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February 7, 2010 by admin
Change Default iCal Event Length
February 7, 2010 by admin
Hello
This is going to be a quick tip for any users who regularly use iCal. When you create a new event, either in the day, week or month viewer you will realise that the length of the event is one hour long, for most people this is fine. However if you regularly have meetings which are half an hour long, or book rooms for two ours at a time, it may be beneficial and more efficient to adjust the default meeting time. This means you don’t have to fiddle around with the length slot if you regularly use the same event length.
This trick, as many tricks on this site do, uses Terminal. Open it up from Applications > Utilities. Then type or copy and paste, the following and hit enter.
defaults write com.apple.iCal 'Default duration in minutes for new event' 15
This will change the default event length to 15 minutes. To see the results re-open iCal if you already have it open. The number at the end represents how long the new iCal event will be. You can change this to any length you want, 10 for ten minutes in length or 120 for two hours in length. Don’t make it too small otherwise it may be difficult to see the event in iCal. For example if you set the iCal event to 1 minute long, all you will see is a small strip in iCal and you may find it difficult to adjust the time.
If you want to reset it back to the default time of one hour, simply change the value to 60. You could delete the preference option with this command:
defaults delete com.apple.iCal 'Default duration in minutes for new event'
Again, restart iCal to see the effect. Note that if you don’t restart it will take about 10 minutes for the preference to kick in. Restarting allows you to see the effect straight away.
If you have any questions of comments please leave a comment below. If you want to find out more iCal tricks, either use the related links below. If you fancy a cool book to ready with lots of tips and tricks I recommend Snow Leopard: The Missing Manual. Its a good book with plenty of tricks.
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Change Default iCal Event Length
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Patent suggests location-based social networking for iPhone
February 7, 2010 by admin
Imagine you and a friend are on a phone call, and both of you own iPhones. You’re trying to meet up somewhere downtown in a city neither of you know very well, so the best answer you can give your friend when he asks, “Where are you now?” is “Uhhh…” followed by several seconds of silence. It’s already possible to share your location using the Maps app on the iPhone — find your current location, tap on the blue marker on the map, tap “Share Location,” and then send it to your friend either as an e-mail or MMS. Then your friend receives the e-mail or MMS with your location, opens it in Maps, and has the option of finding directions to your location from his current location.
If that sounds like a lot of unnecessarily complex steps to answer the simple question of “Where are you,” you’re in luck, because according to a new patent application, Apple agrees with you. By putting “Request location info” and “Release location info” buttons on the call screen in the Phone app, it would be possible to share your location or request someone else’s with a single button press. The same process applies — the iPhone polls its GPS to find out where you are, then transmits that info to your friend’s iPhone — but instead of having to jump through all the hoops yourself, the OS handles it for you in the background. Once your phone receives a request for location info it comes up in a notification, probably very similar to the notifications location-based apps already use when they request permission to use location data. If you agree to release your location data to the caller, it’s transmitted in a fully encrypted signal to the caller’s iPhone. Your location data would then show up on your friend’s iPhone, complete with the option to find directions.
Continue reading Patent suggests location-based social networking for iPhone
Patent suggests location-based social networking for iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 07 Feb 2010 02:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Patent suggests location-based social networking for iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 07 Feb 2010 02:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Another Publisher Uses iPad as Leverage for Price Hike
February 7, 2010 by admin
Despite Amazon’s knee-jerk banishment and reinstatement of its books following a price increase of its books, publisher Macmillan isn’t the only one looking to introduce a new, more lucrative pricing structure. HarperCollins is also eager for renegotiation, and now, Hachette Book Group has also joined the growing contingent of those looking to charge more for their electronic wares.
This is what’s called the new “agency model” of pricing, which allows the company serving the content to take a cut. Apple’s own system calls for a 30 percent take of the revenue on all apps (and now books) sold through its online store. Amazon recently introduced a similar pricing structure for certain books and apps. It looks like major publishers are unwilling to absorb the cost of the seller’s cut, preferring instead to pass it along to consumers.
Hachette CEO David Young, however, in a letter sent out detailing the new pricing plans, claims that book publishers will not make more money using the agency model, claiming the opposite, in fact:
[W]e make less on each e-book sale under the new model; the author will continue to be fairly compensated and our e-book agents will make money on every digital sale. We’re willing to accept lower return for e-book sales as we control the value of our product–books, and content in general. We’re taking the long view on e-book pricing, and this new model helps protect the long term viability of the book marketplace.
Call me skeptical, but I can’t help but feel that these publishers are acting more out of self-interest than anything else. It may be true that they actually make less on every book sold using the agency model for electronic distribution, but it’s probably also true that the books cost much less for them to create than print versions, too. I’d be willing to bet that they end up profiting more on a per copy sold basis in the end. Hachette makes other claims in his letter about how the deal is actually beneficial to consumers, despite the upfront price hike:
There are many advantages to the agency model, for our authors, retailers, consumers, and publishers. It allows Hachette to make pricing decisions that are rational and reflect the value of our authors’ works. In the long run this will enable Hachette to continue to invest in and nurture authors’ careers–from major blockbusters to new voices. Without this investment in our authors, the diversity of books available to consumers will contract, as will the diversity of retailers, and our literary culture will suffer.
It’s good spin, but it’s spin nonetheless. The bottom line, no matter how Hachette, Macmillan, or HarperCollins try to spin it, is that rather than introducing competition that will result in lower prices for book-buying customers, Apple’s iPad has in fact spelled the end of the $9.99 bestseller, for both Kindle and iPad users. Apple had to offer publishers an incentive to come over to its side, but the cost of that bargain is unfortunately one we as the buying public will be paying for.
At least in the short term. A longer view reveals a different picture. Apple needed to gain access to the ebook market, and so was willing to make concessions regarding price. Publishers jumped at the chance to get out from under the tyranny of what amounted to Amazon’s ability to set prices unilaterally. But is it a case of “out of the frying pay, into the fire?”
If Apple’s power play succeeds, Amazon could conceivably be forced to close up shop (though I still don’t think I’ll ever stop reading on my Kindle in favor of the iPad). If and when that happens, Apple will occupy the spot that Amazon once did, and will be able to dictate prices to publishers, much like they did and still continue to do with record labels. It’s a rare case where a monopoly could actually benefit the buying public, but only if you’re willing to pay more than paperback prices in the meantime. I’m not sure I’m willing to do that.
Related GigaOM Pro Research: Evolution of the e-Book Market
More eBook trouble for Amazon
February 7, 2010 by admin
Filed under: Software, iBook, Apple
Amazon has run into more trouble with its pricing — after Macmillan and HarperCollins, a third company has pressured the online book retailer to raise prices on their Kindle eBooks. This time it’s the Hachette Book Group, and their CEO in an internal memo says that the company will switch to an “agency model” for eBook sales.
What’s an agency model? Why, it’s the 70%/30% split between platform and content provider currently used in the App Store, and the same model that’s planned to be used in iBooks on the iPad. And it’s important to note that this is exactly what Jobs said would happen — that publishers would move away from Amazon when they had another system to go with.
What we don’t yet know is where prices will end up on the iPad — Jobs said that prices would be “the same,” and it’s looking more and more like the $9.99 bestseller price is going to be abandoned for $14.99 or even higher. But that’s only because Amazon is fighting shadows with the iPad right now. If they can actually woo some content back to their side when the iPad actually releases, we may see prices get a little more competitive. Until then, the iPad hasn’t even come out and it’s already shaking up the ebook industry completely.
More eBook trouble for Amazon originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 05 Feb 2010 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
More eBook trouble for Amazon originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 05 Feb 2010 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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More eBook trouble for Amazon
February 6, 2010 by admin
Filed under: Software, iBook, Apple
Amazon has run into more trouble with its pricing — after Macmillan and HarperCollins, a third company has pressured the online book retailer to raise prices on their Kindle eBooks. This time it’s the Hachette Book Group, and their CEO in an internal memo says that the company will switch to an “agency model” for eBook sales.
What’s an agency model? Why, it’s the 70%/30% split between platform and content provider currently used in the App Store, and the same model that’s planned to be used in iBooks on the iPad. And it’s important to note that this is exactly what Jobs said would happen — that publishers would move away from Amazon when they had another system to go with.
What we don’t yet know is where prices will end up on the iPad — Jobs said that prices would be “the same,” and it’s looking more and more like the $9.99 bestseller price is going to be abandoned for $14.99 or even higher. But that’s only because Amazon is fighting shadows with the iPad right now. If they can actually woo some content back to their side when the iPad actually releases, we may see prices get a little more competitive. Until then, the iPad hasn’t even come out and it’s already shaking up the ebook industry completely.
More eBook trouble for Amazon originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 05 Feb 2010 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
More eBook trouble for Amazon originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 05 Feb 2010 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Siri for iPhone is like the proverbial Genie in a bottle
February 6, 2010 by admin
Filed under: iPod Family, Freeware, iPhone, App Review
We’re getting closer and closer to some of the stuff we see it science fiction literature and films. Siri [iTunes link] is a small Silicon Valley startup with a really breakthrough product that for now only works on the iPhone.
Here’s the deal. You download the free app, start it up, and tell it what you want. It could be “Will it snow in Des Moines today?” or “Where can I find the nearest burger” or it could be “Find the nearest parks”. It parses your comments, runs out to the web for a few seconds and comes back with a lot of suggestions. It gives you buttons to call the places you’ve found, or to show them on Google Maps and get you directions.
I tried to get a bit fancier saying “Make me a reservation for 2 at the nearest Olive Garden tonight at 7.” The app figured out Olive Garden didn’t take reservations through their service, but it provided me a number for the nearest Olive Garden and offered to map it.
Continue reading Siri for iPhone is like the proverbial Genie in a bottle
Siri for iPhone is like the proverbial Genie in a bottle originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Siri for iPhone is like the proverbial Genie in a bottle originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Is iPhone Gaming More Popular Than the DS & PSP?
February 6, 2010 by admin
Game Developer Research is reporting that the iPhone and iPod touch is beating out the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP to become the most popular handheld gaming device.
According to the study, demand for the iPhone is so high that 19% of all game developers are currently writing apps for the device. That’s double development for the DS and PSP.
Gizmodo reports, “Handheld games are now 25 percent of the whole gaming market, up from 12 percent before the iPhone/iPod touch phenomenon.”
The survey also notes that over the past 3 quarters, all handheld game developers are now writing iPhone games. That is an amazing statistic. We can’t wait to see what happens when the iPad is released. It has the potential to shake up the gaming industry even more. As we noted earlier today, Sega could possibly be bringing Sonic 4 to the iPhone (or iPad).
Electronista has posted a synopsis of the study on their blog.
Mystery Pic 109: What is it?
February 6, 2010 by admin
What is it? Post your guess in the comments section below. If you’re first with the right answer, you’ll earn the dubious honor of getting your name in the next issue of the awe-inspiring Mike’s List newsletter. The answer will be revealed in the next issue of Mike’s List. Go here to subscribe. (It’s free!)
App Store devsugar: Browser-based previews and URL tricks
February 5, 2010 by admin
Filed under: iTS, Software, iTunes, Apple, App Store
TUAW reader Gabby tipped us off this morning that Apple has expanded its new browser-based iTunes previews to include App Store offerings. Sure enough, I pasted a standard App Store URL for Apple’s Remote application into Safari and was treated to the preview shown just above.
This new preview option is just one of many App Store URL tricks you may want to take advantage of. You can find some of the most useful tricks right after the break on this post. Got another URL trick for App Store? Let us know in the comments.
Continue reading App Store devsugar: Browser-based previews and URL tricks
App Store devsugar: Browser-based previews and URL tricks originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 05 Feb 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
App Store devsugar: Browser-based previews and URL tricks originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 05 Feb 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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