Mac|Life applications RSS Feed

Marvel Comics on iPhone, Can DC Be Far Behind?

J Keirn-Swanson — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:03:42 -0600

While none of the offerings are currently the newest material in their catalog, Marvel Comics is partnering with some app developers for the iPhone to bring comics to the small screen. If the sampling is any indication of how well comics can be done on a 3.5-inch screen, I can hardly wait for Apple to bust out the 10.7-inch tablet.

At this stage, at least three apps sell select titles from Marvel's catalog and the three of them offer differing iterations on the reading experience. Readers of comics can find their mobile fix at Comics by Comixology, iVerse and Panelfly, all of which feature in app purchasing of comics. While Comics and iVerse are offering Marvel titles at the price of $1.99, Panelfly is the better bet for pricing, offering the same titles at the discount price of $.99.

The three apps share many similarities with other reader apps while also each delivering their own take on the graphic format reading experience. They also each handle the downloading of comics in their own way, each highlighting different publishers and a different variety of free comics.

In the Marvel category, there seems to be variation with the titles on offer for each app. Comics offers Astonishing X-Men, Captain America, Civil War, Marvel Zombies, X-23, and X-Men Age of Apocalypse, while Panelfly offers Astonishing X-Men, X-23, X-Men Age of Apocalypse, Iron Man, and Amazing Spider-Man. iVerse for its part offers X-Men Age of Apocalypse, Amazing Spider-Man, Astonishing X-Men, Captain America, Iron Man, and X-23. No word on exactly the disparity in titles, though it's worth noting that the mix represents the new, with Josh Whedon's Astonishing X-Men series side by side with issues 1-25 of the classic Stan Lee/Steve Ditko Amazing Spider-Man.

The apps also differ on previews of the comics and other features. Some are strong in some aspects, while outshined by others elsewhere. Marvel's cautious approach in letting third-parties act as distribution channels could also be seen as a wise first toe into the mobile market before the creation of their own app culling the best features from others.

In the realm of samples, iVerse seems to offer nothing beyond a thumbnail of the cover. It also locks image sizing, preventing readers from zooming in on Veronica's tight sweaters in Archie Comics. One suspects that the same can be said for X-23's more revealing wardrobe choices. It does, however, feature nicely sized screens that don't crowd the view and a rotation to landscape focuses automatically in on just enough to fill your screen with readable goodness. iVerse's user interface is slick and polished, your comics titles resting nicely on a woodgrain shelf for you to tap and begin reading

Panelfly is a beautiful app to look at and allows you to preview up to four pages of a comic, though its download speeds are considerably slower than the other two and comics needed to process and be added to the library in a time consuming fashion prior to reading. Pages stocked with panels load and you have to double tap to get to one screen-sized panel zoomed in sufficient to read. Tap the right hand side of the screen to navigate to the next panel, left panel taps takes you back a panel or you can swish your thumb across the screen to bounce around the page without controls. There is no pinch-resizing of images.

Comics by Comixology works similarly to Stanza with the page being broken into thirds for tap-based controls which animate panel shifts beautifully. These occur in all directions, moving you across larger panels as you might read each text box, then zooming out to allow the whole picture to be viewed. The drawback here is that you frequently find yourself switching the iPhone from landcape to portrait and back. Comics does, however, allow for pinch resizing and image dragging, as well as the helpful feature of an in-app comic book store finder that uses GPS to put you on the right path to your local print comics seller. Of all three apps, it also has the finest tuning in the settings.

Each comics reader has something for a class of customers, each holds a slightly different selection of titles and publishers, and if you're a dedicated comics reader you just might wish to download all three to find out which experience works best for you. Or to take advantage of all the titles currently available across the spectrum. With well-developed user interfaces in each of the three apps it really comes down to a matter of taste and preferences.

For Marvel this step hopefully proves successful enough that more of their back and current catalog will soon be available. The inclusion of longer-length graphic novels and more adult geared titles would also be welcome as would a few more freebies to encourage more readers to support these formats.

If their moves are indicative of anything, this is likely to happen. Marvel has also tried experimenting with "motion comics" (minimally animated cartoons, reminiscent of low budget "cartoon" versions of children's books in the seventies) available in iTunes including Spider-Woman and Josh Whedon's run on Astonishing X-Men. Exactly what support or benefits Marvel's Apple products related ventures may receive from their new parent company Disney isn't exactly clear at this point.

One thing is certain in this regard, though, the folks at DC Comics are watching with anticipation to see if their competitor can make a go of it. If it proves a success, we'll almost certainly see some kind of similar offering from the Warner stable. The sooner Batman ends up on the iPhone, the better.

Breaking the Law? The Pros and Cons of Jailbreaking

Cory Bohon — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 18:35:47 -0500

There’s an underground app store on the iPhone and it’s only available to "jailbreakers." People that decide to hack their iPhones do it for a variety of reasons, but being able to run applications in the background on their phone is one of the main ones.

With recent talk about jailbreaking the iPhone 3GS, some people might still be wondering what it is and how it could benefit them. To help those new to the iPhone and for those iPhone owners without a super-nerd friend to pummel with questions about the Pwnage tools and the iPhone-Dev Team, we answer a few basic questions about jailbreaking the greatest device ever.

What is Jailbreaking?

The first jailbreak was released two weeks after the iPhone's initial release in June of 2007 and allowed users to customize their ringtones. A few months later, jailbreak users could install third-party applications on the iPhone. Jailbreaking is not the same as unlocking, which allows you to place a different SIM card in your iPhone to use on other GSM carriers.

The basic ideas of jailbreaking remains the same. The jailbreaking process involves tweaking the Apple firmware and opening doors to third-party, non-Apple approved applications and tweaking the user interface (i.e. adding themes, changing icons, colors, etc.). Once the jailbreaking software on your Mac has altered the iPhone firmware, it will install the custom firmware onto your device.

This process is called jailbreaking, because you're freeing your iPhone/iPod touch from the bonds of Apple, which picks and chooses what its users can do with their devices. Also it sounds kinda cool. Like you're a low-level criminal.

Some Pros/Cons of Jailbreaking

Background Processes

If you want the ability to run an app that isn't the current app in the foreground on your iPhone, jailbreaking can do that for you. For example, if you want to run a chat application in the background and still receive IMs even though you're checking the weather in another application. This is possible with background processes and without push notifications. Another example is GPS apps. They have to be running in the foreground to work on your regular non-hacked iPhone. If they're running in the background on a hacked iPhone, you can check your email, take a call, or switch up your music playlist and the GPS app will continue to track your path.

The downside to applications running in the background is that you will find that your battery drains much quicker and the iPhone will slow down once you have a few processes running along side that of the currently open application.

Apple Updates

A major con that comes to mind with the jailbreaking process is that when Apple updates the iPhone/iPod touch firmware/OS, the new iPhone software overrides the hacked software you have on your iPhone. After each Apple software update, you usually have to wait until the iPhone Dev Team releases an updated jailbreaking tool to update to the latest and greatest features implemented by Apple. This wait can be anywhere from a few hours to a few weeks depending on the update from Apple.

This means you'll be constantly jailbreaking your iPhone in order to keep the features you covet on your device.

Pushed Away

Push Notifications, the little messages you might get on a non-jailbroken iPhone when you get an IM in Beejive or AIM, don't always work on jailbroken devices for some people. The fact that you can run apps in the background makes this con easier to swallow.

Breaking the Law?

The legal issues surrounding jailbreaking is also a big deal. Since you are hacking around with Apple’s software, it's a bit of a "gray area" surrounding the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act), which tries to keep people from, among other things, reverse engineering copyrighted software.

Jailbreaking does allow you to have some pretty nifty and free options added to your iPhone/iPod touch, but Apple is definitely adamant about fighting jailbreakers. For instance, if you take your iPhone in for repair at an Apple Store or through AppleCare, it would probably be in your best interest to restore your device. Apple has been known to refuse service to iPhone/iPod touch owners who have jailbroken their devices.

The Jailbreaking Process

The ability to jailbreak your iPhone is made possible by groups like the iPhone Dev Team. They create the tools needed to unlock your iPhone.

The tools utilize the Apple approved firmware as a base to create a custom firmware based upon what you want your iPhone to do. The resulting .IPSW file is then loaded onto your iPhone via iTunes.

There are a few different pieces of software that allow you to do this, most notably the iPhone Dev Team’s PwnageTool that runs on the Mac and allows you to compile firmware for iPhone, iPhone 3G/3GS, and iPod touch 1st/2nd gen. There’s also an application that runs on Mac, Windows, and Linux called "redsn0w" that is made by the iPhone Dev Team and the Chronic Dev Team.

Getting Applications for your Jailbroken Device

The App Store allows you install applications on your iPhone/iPod touch with relative ease. If you plan on jailbreaking your iPhone but you're concerned you'll lose the App Store. Don't worry, the App Store works fine with jailbroken iPhones. In fact, with a jailbroken iPhone, you'll be opening yourself up to a world of new apps that don't jive with Apple's rules and regulations.

Installer applications come with your newly jailbroken device. These applications are Cydia, Icy, and the old and rarely used, Installer.app. This means that you can have the best of both worlds: the Apple controlled App Store, and the open, free applications of the app installers.

Many applications that have disappeared from the App Store for content violations have reappeared in Cydia or Icy. Most notably, many Google Voice applications pulled from the App Store you can now download from Cydia or Icy. Since Apple doesn't control the content in this store, it’s an "anything goes" model of application development, which many open-source fans like.

Of course that lack of control does mean that you could download an app that could crash your iPhone or not work at all. Patience can be key when trying to find a app that accomplishes a task or adds a feature. We found ourselves downloading three to four apps that promised to do the same thing then uninstalling the two to three that just crashed upon launch or froze the iPhone.

Jailbreaking your iPhone can be a fun exercise or way to enhance your favorite piece of technology. We definitely wouldn't recommend jailbreaking to our less techie friends who just want a working device without the hassle. We would have to recommend that you not jailbreak your main device since you can occasionally run into devastating problems during the installation or regular operation unless your comfortable with that possibility. But, if you're an early adopter with more than one iPhone or iPod touch on hand, jailbreaking might be an intriguing project.

Good luck.

Google Street View Lands on Canada's iPhones

Andrew Villa — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 12:24:39 -0500

If you're in Canada and have been dying to use Google Street View in you maps application, wait no longer! Most major Canadian cities should have the option enabled including, Greater Toronto, Metro Vancouver, Ottawa, and many others.

Google has put in a "report a problem link," which allows users to report whether a point of interest is inaccurate or has changed.

Street View provides users with panoramic street level views, which Google collects using special cameras and equipment to match locations with GPS.

The 10 Free Menubar Apps That You Didn’t Know About (But Should)

Arvind Srinivasan — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 20:29:00 -0500

The OS X menubar is a strange beast. It never goes away, changes with every application, and most users couldn’t care less what is on or off it. However, there comes a time in every geek's life when the menubar is simply too...simple. Lucky for you, we have a list of the 10 best completely free applications that run solely from the menubar. Of course, if you are an organization freak, look elsewhere, because the multiple new icons WILL clutter up the otherwise pristine menubar, but we guarantee they will exponentially increase the usefulness of your Mac. To reduce the clutter, you can hold the command key while clicking on a menubar app, and drag it off. For example, unless you have a wicked Bluetooth-based secret lair, there is no particular reason why you have to keep Bluetooth in the menubar 24/7.

Dropbox

It seems as if every service is going to the cloud, with cloud backup, cloud operating systems, and most popular, cloud storage. There are a number of options in the cloud storage game, like SugarSync, Windows Live Sync, Windows Live Mesh, and Syncplicity, but Dropbox is the most feature rich, and is incredibly simple to maintain. When you install it, it creates a folder on your hard drive (you can also choose an existing folder) and will keep that folder in sync with all the Dropboxes on your different computers. Of course, you will need to install the Dropbox application on each computer you want to sync to, but with builds available for OS X, Windows, and Linux, it is an easy affair. If you are running Amiga OS, we can’t help you. Dropbox also has some additional features worth mentioning. You can share public links (albeit with slightly slow download speeds of about 75-100 kb/s) to any of your files, create a photo gallery viewable on www.getdropbox.com, and package and download your files easily from the Web interface.

Quick tip: If you want to sync files or folders to Dropbox without having to put them in the Dropbox folder, contrary to popular belief, you can. You need to use Terminal (Applications/Utilities/Terminal) and type in the following command:

ln -s {Path to file or folder you want to sync} {Path to Dropbox directory}
For example, if we had a folder called ToBeSynced in my Documents folder, the command would be:

ln -s /Users/Arvind/Documents/ToBeSynced /Users/Arvind/Dropbox

VERY IMPORTANT - Keep a space between the two paths

You can download Dropbox here.

Visor

Nothing says “geek cred” like firing up the Terminal and controlling your friend’s computer with SSH. Nothing says “über-geek cred” like having the Terminal drop down, and then controlling your friend’s computer with SSH. Visor is essential for anyone that uses the Terminal frequently, as it allows you to assign a hotkey to bring it onto the screen. It will save your Terminal window without keeping the window open or having to keep it in the Dock. Visor requires the SIMBL plug-in, and full installation instructions can be found here.

iStat Menus

Some call us the RAM Nazi, and for good reason. We obsess over memory usage. Thus, we find ourselves in a conundrum, because if we keep Activity Monitor open to track application memory usage, we waste RAM by having it open. Also, we don’t like to admit to being neurotic. iStat Menus keeps track of not only RAM usage, but also CPU usage, hard drive temperature, hard drive space used, network usage, read/write speed, and a plethora of other esoteric information. There is probably a module that lets you monitor the Mars Rover (no promises). All of this information can be accessed through the menubar, and you can pick and choose exactly what to monitor. We liked the calendar and clock in iStat so much that we replaced the default OS X clock with it.

iStat menus can be downloaded here.

Caffeine

Have you ever had a 14-hour Hulu marathon, where you had to walk up to the computer and shake the mouse every 10 minutes when the screensaver popped up? Yeah, been there, done that. By default, Apple sets your screen to turn off after a fixed time, which is nice for the environment and your battery life, but incredibly annoying if you are letting your computer do something (i.e. showing a presentation, watching a movie, or running system maintenance for your death ray) that doesn’t require moving your mouse. Of course, you can always disable the screensaver and cancel the energy savings in System Preferences, but then Al Gore would come after you.

Luckily, a middle ground exists. Caffeine, a lightweight utility designed for one and only one purpose, as a toggle for screensaver and display-sleep settings. If you activate it, it will disable the two, deactivate it and regular power-saving settings will resume. We recommend letting it open on startup. Just remember to turn it off after your movie marathon is over, as a computer that cannot dim or turn off its screen will suck up a ton of electricity.

You can download Caffeine here.

LogMeIn

Click the screenshot to embiggen!

The screen-sharing feature in iChat is great if you have friends who have a Mac and you are exchanging tech support for favors, or if you are trying to show them something on your computer, but unfortunately, it is limited to people with OS X Leopard. For everyone else, screen sharing is a tedious and excessively techy affair, involving port forwarding, IP addresses, and VNC clients. LogMeIn is technically a Web app, but its general awesomeness, and the fact that the client software runs from the menubar, forced us to add it to this list. Essentially, LogMeIn allows you to add any of your computers (or friends’ computers) to your remote sharing list. Any time that the host computer is running the client software, you can share their screen, provided, of course, you have their username and password. A more practical use, though, is installing it on your home machine so that you can access your files from work / evil lair / Starbucks.

LogMeIn has both a browser plug-in (for viewing) and a client application, and can be downloaded here.

Mail Unread Menu OR Google Notifier

If you use OS X’s built-in Mail application, you know one of the greatest things about it is that it badges the number of unread messages in your inbox on its icon in the Dock. That said, if you hide your Dock, this advantage is meaningless. Mail Unread Menu fixes this problem by putting a new mail indicator conveniently on, guess what, the menubar. It also adds more customization features, like selecting a specific folder to monitor.

Mail Unread Menu can be downloaded here.

Alternatively, if you use Gmail on a Mac but don’t like desktop mail clients, the Google Notifier for Mac offers the same functionality, but connects directly to the Web version of the service. It also offers slick Google Calendar integration, reminding you of all the tasks you put off in favor of reading this post. Don’t worry, though, it was totally worth it.

Google Notifier can be downloaded here.

MozyHome

Time Machine is great as a home backup solution because it is so simple to use -- you plug in a huge hard drive, and it backs up all your data every hour. However, those without an external hard drive or a fear of messing up the space-time continuum have other options (check out our detailed review of all your cloud backup options). MozyHome is feature rich, free for up to 2GB of storage, and runs from the menubar, backing up select folders to MozyHome’s offsite data centers.

MozyHome can be downloaded here.

Echodio

Dropbox is great for syncing files that don’t require any particular organizational structure, but can be a pain if you want to sync things that require structure, like iTunes libraries. Echodio offers the same essential syncing functionality, but integrates seamlessly with iTunes, meaning that you can sync playlists and music while preserving the metadata and tagging information. This means the Hannah Montana album you renamed to show up as Iron Maiden will stay that way, saving you from embarrassment (no promises -- if you listen to her music, it is bound to catch up with you someday).

Echodio is free and can be downloaded here.

EverSave

While OS X is not as prone to crashes as, say, Windows, there are still times when you wish you had saved that document but forgot to. EverSave is there to save you every time, automatically saving documents for you. It is very customizable, as you can set it to save on timed intervals or on every application switch, and decide which applications it will monitor. We would only suggest that if you are saving on intervals, you set the interval to a sizeable number, so it’s not saving constantly. If you are using an application like Pages, for example, every time you save a document, a progress bar pops up that renders the application useless.

EverSave can be downloaded here.

pulpTunes

While the developers may be a tad confused with their nomenclature, their product itself is great. It has nothing to do with oranges or pulp, even if the logo suggests otherwise, and instead creates a webpage that can stream all of your iTunes music (or a select amount) in Flash. The application is simple: You launch it, designate a port for it to listen to (15000 is default) and then you can navigate to it in your favorite Web browser and listen to your music. Obviously, it is of no use to listen to it on the same computer that the music is actually stored on, but if you forward the port to that computer, and set up a domain for yourself, you can listen to your music anywhere. You can choose to share this website with anyone, or create user accounts for people to log in and listen. Once on the website, you can download any of the music on the site, search for specific tracks, and filter by genre, artist, and song. However, with great power comes great responsibility. Don’t download tracks that will make the RIAA come after you with a pitchfork and torch.

pulpTunes can be downloaded here.