Macgasm

The ‘bluebird’ (Twitterific) has hit 2.0 on the iPhone and it’s starting to get a lot of buzz the last couple of days.  I’m starting to worry because my Twitter feed has been filled with information on twitter applications far more often than usual and it’s starting to get to be a little bit much for even me.  I promise to keep the twitter chatter to a minimum over the next couple of weeks.

The Iconfactory team  have completely redesigned the interface and have given us access to new themes and layout.  But outside of the graphical updates we’ve been given access to run multiple twitter accounts, search twitter, and see trends all from within the application.  All of these tools have become pretty handy for us here at Macgasm.

While my opinion on twitterific has been love – hate at times I’m giving this one a fair go.  TwitterFon has been acting up and I’m keen to compare the new features fully.  What’s your favorite iPhone twitter application outside of twitters native mobile page?  Let us know in the comments, I’m hoping there’s a gem out there that I haven’t tried yet.

Did you know you can sync folders between your machines without using Mobile Me?

This is the first post in a series of posts highlighting why Mobile Me is a giant waste of cash. For the record, I’m just trying to save you guys some cash so you can buy that new Mac Tablet, or NetBook.

So, the hardcore users know this, but some of you newcomers might not. OS X ships with a BSD based terminal that lets you run commands like any good operating system should. It’s quite powerful for new users, but once you get a grasp on it you’ll be pleasantly surprised by what you can do with it.

You have the ability to sync your Desktop machine to your Notebook with a simple line of code. This gives you the ability to transfer all your contents from your desktop at the end of the work day to your shiny Macbook (pro) before you take off home. The time it takes to do this is directly proportional to the amount of data in the folders you want to sync, so work that into your timeline for getting out the door.

Here’s the code you need to put into the terminal.

rsync --ignore-existing --progress --recursive --perms --times \
--size-only --whole-file --rsh=ssh --exclude='.*' \
Documents/ joshua-schnells-macbook-pro.local:/Users/jschnell/Documents

The only major point of note here is this line Documents/ joshua-schnells-macbook-pro.local:/Users/jschnell/Documents

The section that says Documents/ is the path to the folder you want to sync to the other machine. The second part that says joshua-schnells-macbook-pro.local:/Users/jschnell/Documents lets the computer know where you’re syncing the files to. The ‘joshua-schnells-macbook-pro.local is letting the system know the name of the machine on the network that you’re going to be connecting to. You can find this info by going to ‘System Preferences then Sharing’. You’ll see a screen like the one attached. Look for the name that ends in .local then copy and paste it into the line of code mentioned above.

This is reason one why Mobile Me is a waste of cash.

NOTE: We’re not responsible if you mess up your system.  Take precautionary backup measures before you start mucking around with the code.

[Download] [01.9 MB] [0:04:00]
Hosted by: Josh Schnell & Grant Brunner

In this episode, Grant talks about AppFresh.

I know, like we need any more rules when it comes to the app store. But this is a new rule for heading forward. Apple, starting today, is asking all developers to make sure all their iPhone/iPod Touch apps are 3.0 compatible or they will not be approved! Though “Most” apps should work with out any issues, developers are being asked to test their apps at this point. It is possible that after 3.0 is released that many apps will be pulled from the app store for having lack of compatibility on the new 3.0 software.

This is just incredible. Dylan Roscover has created this Steve Jobs portrait based on the “Here’s to the crazy ones” ad campaign from Apple in the 90s. Made up in its entirety from only those fonts present in Apple branding and products. You definitely have to click through and check out the attention to detail on it in full size.

Here’s the ad it was based on too.

Catastrophic MagSafe Failure, originally uploaded by bbum.

Apple has been sued due to their MagSafe Adapter.  In the claim, it states that their 85-watt and 60-watt adapters have been horribly designed and can be a potential fire hazard.

The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court in San Jose and alleges that both the 85-watt and 60-watt adapters have been negligently designed and manufactured. According to the suit, the cable from the power supply to the MagSafe connector “dangerously frays, sparks, and prematurely fails to work.”

– CIO.com

As someone who had her 60-watt MagSafe Adapter begin to burn with no warning, I’m actually surprised that it took so long for this lawsuit to appear.  It cost $79 to replace when I thought it was something that I shouldn’t have to pay. The court papers state that Apple is aware of this issue and hasn’t done anything to correct it.  The plaintiffs want Apple to provide safe adapters or refund the price of the laptops.

I am happy to hear that no one is asking for a ridiculous amount in this case.  Their terms seem fair, and they are able to help others, like me, who have dealt with this similar issue.  Additionally, they are also helping Apple because there are others who would sue for $200 billion and would cause more of an uproar than these users are doing.

This is a wake-up call to Apple to fix this issue before it escalates, so we’ll see how they proceed.

[Download] [01.9 MB] [0:04:00]
Hosted by: Josh Schnell & Grant Brunner

In this episode, Josh talks about Tweetie for OS X.

You don’t get rich by spending your money, and you get really rich by holding onto it for as long as possible.  We’ve all been in that boat–not wanting to write a cheque, or getting getting extremely pissed off when clients hold out on you.  A person’s integrity can be measured on those principles. If they’re constantly stiffing you with unpaid invoices, there’s a good chance you’ll never do business with them.  It’s not rocket science, and it’s certainly something discussed ad nauseum in first year business school classes.  Go out of your way to be accommodating and everyone will love you, repeat business will flow in, and hopefully you pick up some new clients through referrals.

How many iPhone developers are going to be telling their friends about a system that holds out on payments?  Probably all of them, but not in a way that Apple needs them to.  When a “developer, who wishes to remain nameless for fear that they could be kicked off the developer program for speaking out, told me that while Apple was “œquick to take the $99 developer fee,” getting paid “œfeels increasingly unlikely” you have a problem (Zdnet).  Sure the developer could be trying to put pressure on Apple to pay up by using the media, but lets be real here, anything longer than the 45  day waiting period that Apple Inc. has in place is unacceptable.  I wonder how they would feel if developers withheld their developer fees, or more importantly Apple’s 30 percent cut.  You’d see that application yanked from the AppStore quicker then Apple’s legal team can put together a DMCA take down notice–we all know just how good they are at that.

Unless there’s a little more quid pro quo, and a lot less douchebaggery on Apple’s part, there’s a good chance developers will start to sour on the whole experience.  It’s one thing to brag about the billions and billions of dollars sitting in the bank, but if you can’t pay your bills it doesn’t matter how much money you have.