Filemark maker can convert any PDF, text, MS Word, Excel, or high-definition picture file into a bookmarklet. (There is a 6mb filesize limitation). Just drag-and-drop any file onto the Filemark Maker application droplet and Filemark Maker lets you bookmark that file from within Safari. So the next time you sync your iPhone’s bookmarks, all of your files you saved into Safari are now accessible on your iPhone or iPod Touch.

In case you are wondering, these special bookmarklets work by converting the data stored in the file into a javascript statement. Filemark Maker composes the javascript and allows you to save it in the form of a Safari bookmark, which can be synced to your iPhone or iPod Touch. Since all of the data needed is stored in the bookmark, the iPhone is able to render the file on-the-fly without the need to load any information from a server. What’s great about bookmarklets is they don’t require a user to hack or jailbreak their iPhone or iPod touch. It’s an efficient and secure way to store and view your static documents on-the-go.

There are some other bookmarklets out there that utilize javascript that enable an iPhone or iPod Touch user to do other cool stuff with MobileSafari. There’s a handful of them available at LifeClever, including a “find on this page” function. PixelSpread has created another awesome bookmarklet that allows you to override a site’s iPhone webclip icon and replace it with one of your choice.

Filemark Maker is freeware and is available for download from the Monkey Business Labs website.

First of all, Apple has yet to replace the standard blue bubbly interface objects with the iTunes dark pill interface objects. The new Leopard user interface is pretty much a direct derivative of the UI work Apple has done to iTunes, however Apple has continued to ignore the new iTunes interface objects in the interface transition. While some may be opposed to the iTunes dark objects, the Aqua-blue objects seem so out of place with the new unified UI. I would also be happy if they just updated the scrollbar, if Apple doesn’t think the other iTunes objects work well on a cross-OS level. Hopefully they do something about it before Gold Master.

Many are also uncomfortable with the new folder icons. Some claim they seem too “IBM’, others too “Windows”, to other they seem too “Linux”. While I have to agree, Tiger’s folder icon set definitely needing a refresh. I think the problem with the new folders lies with its two-dimensional perspective and its overall blandness. If the folders were offset and/or made more realistically, it would definitely improve the appearance of the icons. IndieHIG has come up with a pretty detailed criticism and analysis of the new icons, which highlight many of the complaints I and many others have with the new folder icons.

Apple has improved Front Row to resemble and function very much like an AppleTV. So far, the only UI complaint with Front Row 2.0 is the launch and quit transitions. With Front Row 1.0, there’s a nice slick transition between the desktop and Front Row. Apparently with Front Row 2.0, Apple has had to trash that nice transition for a simple fade. Hopefully Apple can come up with a better transition than a fade when it comes time to the release.

Mail.app’s and Preview’s icons remain ugly. Why has Apple not yet unified the entire UI like they promised. Preview and Mail’s toolbars are totally off from the rest of the interface. It’d be alright if they were somewhat decent, but these toolbar icons are simply hideous, especially with the darker unified window backgrounds.

While these suggestions may seem like rather insignificant, I can say that I am not alone that Apple needs to really work on making Leopard the best they possibly can - and to not rush things. Because usually, the first version of an OS X is nearly identical with the final version feature-wise. So please Apple, finish the job.

With this seed, Apple continued to polish Leopard’s user interface. New app icons, new desktop backgrounds, new welcome video, and UI elements polish.

An important change Apple’s made with OS X is now some of the more important CoreService applications, like Spotlight, Exposé, and Front Row can be launched through independent apps that are now available in the Applications folder, similar to the Dashboard app. Spaces can also be launched as an application.

Other minor tweaks Apple has made with 9A559 include:

• iCal displaying the date even when not active
• New music with the welcome video
• New icons for the Desktop, Spaces, and Front Row
• New desktop backgrounds. One of them is the iPhone’s default desktop background (which was taken by NASA), the other is a beautiful profile of the Earth.
• Further universal UI polishing

It looks like Leopard is really close to reaching Release Candidate stage. As Apple continues to push out seeds more frequently, it seems Apple’s making the final UI polishes before Leopard is finally declared Gold Master. So far, I’m really impressed with the improvements Apple’s made with the UI.

New Welcome Video

]]> http://www.appleology.com/2007/09/22/leopard-9a559-user-interface-improvements/feed/ http://www.appleology.com/2007/09/08/the-beat-goes-on-announcement-roundup/ http://www.appleology.com/2007/09/08/the-beat-goes-on-announcement-roundup/#comments Sat, 08 Sep 2007 13:34:00 +0000 Justin http://www.appleology.com/2007/09/08/the-beat-goes-on-announcement-roundup/

Let’s start small with the Shuffle.

New pastel colors. Still $79 and same memory capacities. Yep, that’s pretty much it. Let’s move on.

The New Nano

One of the biggest announcements at the Keynote was the new video-playing, “stubby” Nano. Now that the Nano has video, all iPods with a screen have video. The Nano is still offered only in 4GB and 8GB models. I have 4 hours of video in my library and thats 3Gb. So for me, the 4GB would not be able to handle my video and music library. Now let’s say I upgrade to the 8GB. This leaves me about 4GB of music. But why would i do that. For $50 more I could buy myself an 80GB Classic with a .5 inch bigger screen. I don’t understand why Apple added video to the Nano. They now have mixed all of their iPod customers into one type. Now your only buying screen size and capacity.

For me, the Nano is definitely not the iPod for me. For people who really plan on watching video, they need to consider the iPod Classic or iPod Touch. I think Apple just added video functionality for casual occasional videos - maybe video podcasts or music videos. However, I do think the Nano is still great for running, especially with the Nike+ iPod kit.

By the way, the new Nanos have games too, but I don’t look forward to playing games on such a tiny screen. If I want to game, I’ll buy a PSP or DS. However, it will be interesting what homebrew cooks up for the iPhone and iPod Touch for games. So far, we’ve got NES, “Lights Out”, Yahtzee!, Blackjack, Minesweeper, and more.

One of the bigger announcements was that the new iPod Nano now comes with a new user-interface (and possibly a brand new OS) that allows for Cover Flow and some more eye candy.

So the Nano. 4GB, only silver for $149. 8GB, silver, blue, green, black, and red for $199. Thinner, wider, and now with video.

iPod Classic

Honestly nothing revolutionary here. The biggest surprise was probably the name change. No longer can you buy simply an “iPod”. A big surprise for others is probably the amazing memory capacity available.

The new iPod Classics are now all metal. The front plastic from the 5G iPod has been replaced to the same metal Apple is using with the Nano. Apple has curiously kept the back the same metal as the 5G iPod. I believe this will raise appeal. Now the outside won’t scratch (at least it wont be as easy to) and the memory capacity is amazing for people with serious video and/or audio libraries.

The new iPod also comes bundled with the new OS Apple has written for the Nano. The iPod Classics are available in 80GB and 160GB models. They are $250 and $350 respectively. Silver has replaced white, and will probably now make the black model even more popular.

iPod Touch

The iPod Touch was probably the most exciting announcement. Well, you know the iPhone. Take away the phone and you’ve got the iPod Touch. It’s an iPod with a 3.5 in touch screen. It has Safari with Wifi, the whole thing. It also has YouTube, MobileCalendar, MobileAddressBook. However, Apple did not include a Mail application or the stock, weather, or Google Maps applications. MobileOSX includes Cover flow with the accelerometer.

The iPod Touch models are both a bit thinner than the iPhone. The iPod Touch does not have a microphone - which will make it hard for hackers to possibly turn the Touch into a VOiP iPhone. There is an 8GB and a 16GB version. Only $299 and $399 respectively.

iPhone

The iPhone’s price has been reduced to $399. It’s now only available in 8GB version. IMO Good move Apple. Anyone with a budget to buy the iPhone would buy the 8GB version for only $100 more. But now with only an 8GB model available and the price drop Apple has told us a lot. Plus anyone who bought their phone before this price drop gets a $100 rebate. The new smaller price difference between the iPhone and iPods will probably make potential iPod buyers consider an iPhone. Apple’s recent aggressiveness will really pay off with one of the best fourth quarters ever.

What else could there possibly be?

Actually, a lot. The biggest “side-announcement” was probably the new Wi-Fi iTunes music store. You can browse a full iTunes music store and download them straight to your iPod touch or iPhone. This is what people have been asking for since the first video iPods were released. I can see this significantly boosting iTunes music sales. Apple has setup a great convenience for people to buy that song they are listening to on the radio on impulse with just a few “taps”. Now Apple has caught the impulse buyer too. I think this will boost the iTunes Store to the next level in music sales.

What else could Apple do to please us? What about the iPhone owners who were extremely upset after the price drop? Steve Jobs personally acknowledged the dissatisfaction from early iPhone adopters and has written a short open letter to all iPhone customers. In the letter, Steve clarifies why they dropped the price and then apologizes that Apple hasn’t really taken care of its most loyal customers and announced a soon-to-be-available $100 in-store rebate. Isn’t Steve the best?

Apple is also taking advantage of the potential with custom ringtones? In iTunes 7.4, it is now (actually will soon be) possible. Once you buy a song in the iTunes Store you pick a 30 second section and apply fade-ins and/or fade-outs. It does cost $0.99 though. But $1.98 for a song and ringtone is cheaper than just a normal ringtone from your normal provider. Hackers have successfully circumvented this process by simply renaming m4a music file with an “.m4r” extension and then syncing their iPhones. It’s a relatively simple process, however it seems to have already been patched by Apple with iTunes 7.4.1. But software applications such as iToner ($15) and the free iPhone application “SendSong” are able to make ringtones without having to pay the extra 99 cents every time.

]]> http://www.appleology.com/2007/09/08/the-beat-goes-on-announcement-roundup/feed/ http://www.appleology.com/2007/08/25/leopards-new-space-themed-welcome-video-and-desktop-wallpaper/ http://www.appleology.com/2007/08/25/leopards-new-space-themed-welcome-video-and-desktop-wallpaper/#comments Sun, 26 Aug 2007 01:16:00 +0000 Appleologist http://www.appleology.com/2007/08/25/leopards-new-sci-fi-welcome-video-and-wallpaper/ Apple has recently seeded an update to its beta-testing developers, with codenames 9A527 and 9A528A. Developers are claiming the OS is close to receiving final candidate status. The update features greatly improved performance and stability, as well as a surprising number of UI tweaks.

Developers are also noticing some of the UI tweaks Apple has made to Leopard since the previous version. In seed 9A528a, Mac OS X now sports a space theme in Leopard. A few developers have already leaked some of the new UI elements, including Leopard’s new welcome video and the new default desktop wallpaper that complements Time Machine’s sci-fi theme. The new translucent menu bar is now less transparent by default and the dock is also receiving a few minor tweaks. It also seems the window action buttons (close, minimize, and expand) are now vector-based.

]]> http://www.appleology.com/2007/08/25/leopards-new-space-themed-welcome-video-and-desktop-wallpaper/feed/ http://www.appleology.com/2007/08/08/why-apples-current-mac-mini-strategy-is-failing/ http://www.appleology.com/2007/08/08/why-apples-current-mac-mini-strategy-is-failing/#comments Wed, 08 Aug 2007 21:14:37 +0000 Appleologist http://www.appleology.com/2007/08/08/why-apples-current-mac-mini-strategy-is-failing/ The Mac Mini seemed like it had a bright future ahead of itself when Steve Jobs first introduced it at MacWorld 2005. It was introduced as the perfect switcher’s machine, since it was “bare bones”, cheap, and allowed for connection to third party displays, keyboards, and mice. When Steve introduced the new machine, it was available for only $499 and it received a lot of positive press. But the popularity of the low-budget machine has been declining ever since it’s launch. Some analysts and bloggers even predicted Apple was to drop the Mac Mini models from its product line yesterday at the August 7 special event. Steve didn’t make a mention of it in his Keynote, but it survived and even quiet speed-bump to all of its models. But in my opinion, I don’t see how much longer the Mac Mini can continue to survive with Apple’s current strategy.

BYOKMD doesn’t work for low-budget consumers

The Mac Mini hasn’t been a great success in large part because of Apple’s flawed Mac Mini strategy. Yesterday, Steve discussed Apple’s philosophy on consumer products, he said,”It’s an All-in-One World”. But the Mac Mini is the farthest thing from an all-in-one machine. Most low-budgeted consumers don’t already have a display and/or peripherals. So, when checking out the Mac Mini, they don’t understand the Mac Mini’s lack of a display, mouse, or keyboard; and they ultimately look to alternatives because of this. The Mac Mini doesn’t offer everything out of the box, and that turns off many low-budget consumers.

Additionally, customers realize that the price of a Mac Mini with a display, mouse, and keyboard would be around the same price as a MacBook or an iMac.

AppleTV is replacing the Mac Mini as the affordable media center solution

Initially, many Mac Mini users were using their Mac Mini as a home media center. And now, Apple’s cutting into it’s own marketshare, since the AppleTV has replaced the Mac Mini as the preferred Apple media center for half the price. This effect will only snowball as the AppleTV gains more functionality and popularity.

$599 > $499

When the Mac Mini was unveiled, Apple was getting a lot of positive feedback for finally offering a budget-driven Macintosh for only $499. But Apple quietly increased that price $100 for each model on the February 28th special event in 2006 and has yet to lower the models back to their original prices, while other PC manufacturers have continued to lower their prices. That extra $100 makes a big difference for a lot of people, especially when the consumer has to buy a separate mouse, keyboard, and display in order to use the computer.

A proven failure

Right now, the Mac Mini seems to be going through the “Cube effect”. Two Apple-related products, the NeXT Cube and the PowerMac G4 Cube, were both discontinued due to their high price-points and lack of necessary peripherals. Those two products also didn’t survive because consumers prefer functionality over design. And unfortunately, it looks as if the Mac Mini is already on the way to suffering the same fate if Apple doesn’t do anything about it.

How Apple can save the Mac Mini

The Mac Mini’s price-point aren’t targeted toward a big consumer audience. It’s awkwardly priced too high for low-end consumers, and it doesn’t offer some of the features high-end consumers want that can’t afford a Mac Pro and already have a display. Apple could either go two directions with the Mac Mini, lower its value and cater to the really low-end consumer; or bump up its graphics and processing capabilities and cater to a higher-level consumer audience that already have a display. Either way, the Mac Mini would finally be saved from its unfortunate fate and finally have a respectable place in Apple’s product line.

]]> http://www.appleology.com/2007/08/08/why-apples-current-mac-mini-strategy-is-failing/feed/ http://www.appleology.com/2007/08/08/imovie-08-makes-custom-slideshow-production-easy/ http://www.appleology.com/2007/08/08/imovie-08-makes-custom-slideshow-production-easy/#comments Wed, 08 Aug 2007 20:02:42 +0000 Appleologist http://www.appleology.com/2007/08/08/imovie-08-makes-custom-slideshow-production-easy/ iMovie has always made it impossible to produce advanced slideshows, especially when setting custom Ken Burns start-and-end frames. The problem used to lie with iMovie’s sluggish importing and encoding functions, however the problem seems to have been fixed with iMovie ‘08, thanks to Apple’s decision to completely rewrite the application. Encoding and clip manipulation performance is faster than ever, and the new user interface is clean and intuitive.

Previously with iLife ‘08, making a fully-customized Ken Burns DVD slideshow was impossible. The closest you could get to a fully-customized slideshow involved making an iPhoto slideshow with custom Ken Burns effects and audio, exporting it to a QuickTime file, and importing it into an iDVD project. However, it was impossible to add and mix multiple audio tracks into the slideshow and iPhoto’s user interface made customizing each photo’s effects awkward. The entire slideshow production workflow just wasn’t thought out very well by Apple.

Thanks to the iMovie code rewrite, photo slideshows are now fully customizable and easy to produce inside iMovie. iMovie is no longer sluggish when importing and encoding photos, start-and-end Ken Burn frames are now easy to manage, and managing multiple audio tracks and transitions are more intuitive than before. iMovie ‘08 also has much-improved transition management.

But on the other hand, Apple’s new iMovie rewrite has left a few features out that many will miss, such as movie themes and video effects. Fortunately, the iLife ‘08 installer does not remove the previous version of iMovie, instead moving it inside a directory within the Applications folder named “iMovie (previous version)”. Hopefully Apple is already working on implementing the various features they left behind with iMovie ‘06 into the new iMovie in a future software update, because once iMovie has those great features back it will once again become the easiest-to-use, most stable, and most fully-featured movie production application.

]]> http://www.appleology.com/2007/08/08/imovie-08-makes-custom-slideshow-production-easy/feed/ http://www.appleology.com/2007/08/07/new-core-2-duo-mac-minis-aluminum-keyboards/ http://www.appleology.com/2007/08/07/new-core-2-duo-mac-minis-aluminum-keyboards/#comments Tue, 07 Aug 2007 20:38:53 +0000 Appleologist http://www.appleology.com/2007/08/07/new-core-2-duo-mac-minis-aluminum-keyboards/ Today the Mac Mini survived and finally gets a speed bump and new upgrade options, including dual-layer superdrive options and additional hard drive and RAM options.

The 1.83 GHz combo drive model is available for $599 and the 2.0GHz superdrive model is available for $799. Each models have standard 1GB RAM, and the 1.8 GHz model has a 80GB HD while the 2.0 GHz model has a 120GB HD.

The new aluminum keyboards are also available for $79 for the wireless model and $49 for the wired model. Apple has discontinued the full wireless keyboard, replacing it with a wireless MacBook-sized keyboard. The decision has already brought on a lot of harsh criticism from bloggers and reviewers who miss the full-sized wireless keyboard.

]]> http://www.appleology.com/2007/08/07/new-core-2-duo-mac-minis-aluminum-keyboards/feed/ http://www.appleology.com/2007/08/07/iwork-08-highlights/ http://www.appleology.com/2007/08/07/iwork-08-highlights/#comments Tue, 07 Aug 2007 20:06:33 +0000 Appleologist http://www.appleology.com/2007/08/07/iwork-08-highlights/ iWork ‘08 introduces many new features, which Steve said “Completes the productivity suite”. Apple has published a set of webpages that tour each new feature in Pages, Keynote, and Numbers.

The features in this productivity suite really do make it a fierce competitor with Microsoft Office. The new innovative features, user interface, and Apple-designed templates raise the application suite to a whole new level of productivity, compatibility, and functionality.

Key points from the website include:

Pages

• Two independent application modes, one for word-processing and another for page layout
• Easier text format manipulation
• 80 new Apple-designed templates
• New graphic tools, including “instant alpha” (removing backgrounds from photos)

Keynote

• New transitions and effects
• Voice-over recording
• Automatic “smart builds”
• 35 new Apple-designed templates

Numbers

• Complete compatibility with Microsoft Excel
• A number of Apple-designed templates and chart textures
• Advanced manipulation of tables, canvases, layouts, charts, maps, grids, etc.
• “Interactive Print View”. Scale and arrange layouts before printing.

]]> http://www.appleology.com/2007/08/07/iwork-08-highlights/feed/ http://www.appleology.com/2007/08/07/ilife-08-guided-tour-highlights/ http://www.appleology.com/2007/08/07/ilife-08-guided-tour-highlights/#comments Tue, 07 Aug 2007 19:37:52 +0000 Appleologist http://www.appleology.com/2007/08/07/ilife-08-guided-tour-highlights/ Apple has published a twenty minute guided tour of the new iLife ‘08 application suite, highlighting the key features and demonstrating the user interface. The guided tour is available for viewing on Apple’s website.

The user interface on these new applications are stunning and fresh, and it truly does seem to be the biggest update to iLife ever.

Key points from the video include:

iPhoto

• Integration with .Mac’s Web Gallery
• New “Events” Library organization
• Themed-printing features
• New iTunes-eque UI

iMovie

• Supposedly recoded
• Brand new UI, project workflow
• Supposedly faster, easier
• New formats
• Export to YouTube, iPhone, iPod, .Mac
• Additional format support (video promotes AVCHD)

iDVD

• Ten new animated themes
• Improved slideshow features
• Improved performance

iWeb

• Integration with Google AdSense
• Integration with YouTube videos
• Integration with Google Maps (creating and sharing custom map views)
• Improved support for iWeb hosting on non-.Mac servers
• Better photo navigation and viewing

Garageband

• An automated song generator with custom interments and genres, featuring an innovative UI
• Improved track and sound manipulation (EQ, effects, etc.)

]]> http://www.appleology.com/2007/08/07/ilife-08-guided-tour-highlights/feed/