9to5Mac is reporting that iWork 09 will debut at MacWorld. That’s plausible but the real kicker is that they’re reporting that Apple is moving the apps to the cloud. You heard that right: supposedly Pages, Keynote and Numbers will all become web apps.

If anyone could do Cloud computing right Apple would be the logical choice. We’re not convinced, though. Cloud computing certainly has its place but for most people web apps can’t fully replace a desktop version at this time. Google apps are nice and in general work pretty well but we’d never give up our desktop versions of Numbers, Pages, or even Excel for that matter.

The report is of course a rumor so grains of salt should be taken. We’d certainly welcome an upgrade to iWork and if Apple were to integrate the suite with existing MobleMe services they could score a serious home run. Imagine Keynote on your iPhone or iPod Touch. That would be extraordinary! Here’s to this rumor sort of being true.

Tags:rumor, iwork

Mudbug Software released Webify 1.1 last week. The update fixes rotation issues associated with rectangular images. It also introduced the Reflection effect promised when Webify was originally released. The update is free to all registered owners.

For anyone thinking about purchasing Webify, today would be a good day to do so. Mudbug is offering 40% off until 1/1/2009. That’s $9.60 USD for an eminently capable image editor.

We use Webify all the time for images we post here at AYAAW. It’s a great little app and we highly recommend it.

Tags:update, image editing, graphics

Gizmodo is reporting that the real reason for Apple subbing Phil Schiller for the keynote and exiting MacWorld after 2009 is Steve Jobs “rapidly” declining health:

“Steves health is rapidly declining. Apple is choosing to remove the hype factor strategically vs letting the hype destroy apple when the inevitable news comes later this spring.”

CNBC’s Jim Goldman, however, is reporting the opposite:

“I was told two weeks ago by sources inside Apple that the decision had nothing to do with Jobs' health. I got the same message today. Period.I will say again: if Apple is lying, holding some truth back, manipulating its own stock by manipulating the truth, someone — indeed a lot of people — could be going to jail. Do I like the way Apple has handled this ongoing story? No. But do I traffic in rumors to fill the void the company has created by not choosing to be more forthcoming about Jobs' health? Absolutely not.”

So who are we to believe? The Gizmodo rumor is just that, a rumor and Goldman presents the compelling argument that if the rumor turns out to be true, a bunch of people would go to jail. We just can’t see Apple execs being stupid enough to take that risk.

Tags:steve jobs, rumor

We know you’ve all been waiting perched on the edges of your seats. First, though, we’d like to once again thank RealMac Software for their generous gifts. RapidWeaver and LittleSnapper are killer apps and a couple of lucky Mac users are getting them for free this holiday season!

And the winners are:

Sandy L.
RapidWeaver

Paul C.
LittleSnapper

Congratulations to our winners and everyone else, thanks for entering. Winners, keep an eye on your inbox.

Tags:littlesnapper, giveaways

The Holiday Season is a time for gathering with family and friends and reflecting on all we hold dear and giving thanks for all that we have. It’s a season of joy and excitement, especially for the little ones, and over indulging and bulging waistlines for us adults. Tis the season to be jolly, fa la la...

It’s also the season to get stuff! Ho Ho Ho! Santa (Nik from RealMac Software) just stopped by AYAAW’s corporate headquarters and dropped off a couple of really neat gifts. Time to make your list and check it twice. If you’ve been naughty you might get a present but your chances are better if you’ve been nice. Actually not, we’re just trying to promote niceness here.

So what are these gifts we’re giving away? Glad you asked. We’re happy and excited to be giving away 1 license for LittleSnapper ($39 USD) and 1 license for RapidWeaver ($79 USD). LittleSnapper has already become the premier, at least in our opinion, OS X screen snapping and cataloging app. Read more about LittleSnapper in our First Look At RealMac Software’s LittleSnapper post from last week.

RapidWeaver is, of course, the best and most powerful website creation software available for OS X or any other platform. You just can’t beat its simplicity and extensibility. RapidWeaver also boasts the best user to user forum on the internet so you always have hundreds if not thousands of other RapidWeaver users on hand to help you through any issues you might run into.

If owning either of these best-in-class apps appeals to you and you haven’t already purchased a license for them then read on.

To enter the giveaway, just head on over to our Holidays Giveaway page, enter your info and click submit. That’s all there is to it. Don’t worry, we’re not collecting info to sell to spammers or for any other nefarious reason. We need your name and email address because if you win we need to be able to contact you and send you the license codes. You may enter from now until 11:59p.m. Central Standard Time on December 27th.




From all of us here at AYAAW to all of you have a safe and happy holiday season!

RSS Feed (you can also find this link in the sidebar)

Tags:giveaways, littlesnapper, software

Yesterday, Elixir Graphics released Float for RapidWeaver. Float boasts:

“a huge number professionally designed, stylish background styles. The backgrounds included in this theme serve as both a header and a site background. Included in Float are 27 graphical backgrounds along with the ability to use the color picker to choose your own solid color. Or, simply hide the background altogether.

Float includes seven sidebar variations. Not only can you place your sidebar on the left or the right, but you can also choose to locate it at the bottom of the site, just above the footer. In addition to normal sidebar styles you can choose to dress up the sidebar as well. We offer an option for a 3D inset look on either the left or the right, as well as a talk-bubble-esque look for the sidebar at the bottom.

Float incorporates a very stylish search feature into its menu bar. When a visitor to your site clicks the magnifying glass located on the right-hand side of the menu bar a search field will float up and allow them to use Google to search your site.

One of the main highlights of the Float theme is its beautiful floating menu bar. It allows users to navigate your site in style. In setting up your site with RapidWeaver, and our Float theme, you have a wide variety of options available to you.”

We bought Float straight away and found it to be a really great theme. It’s light-weight, fast loading and the integrated Google site search is a great addition. Adam Shiver of Elixir Graphics and the creator of Float has to be one of the most talented artists we’ve found working on themes for RapidWeaver. When you buy a theme from Elixir you know you’re getting a well crafted, beautiful theme.

If you’re wanting or needing some extra graphics to dress up your website, check out Elixir’s Extras page for add-on packs of headers, icons, Collage and Accordion styles. We love his style and no doubt you will too!

Tags:theme

YourHead Software yesterday treated RapidWeaver’s to a sneak peak of the as yet unreleased Stacks plug-in. Stacks looks to be a “must have” RapidWeaver plug-in and will no doubt be a big hit among novice and advanced weaver’s alike. With Stacks, users get Blocks like drag and drop functionality. Stacks goes further, however, and adds dynamic text fluidity to webpage layout. Stacks coolest feature, in our opinion, is nest-able objects. According to YourHead’s Stacks page:

“Build columns within columns within rows within columns. Or group a stack of objects inside a box. Almost anything is possible with Stacks.”

We were lucky enough to get in on beta testing and can safely say that Stacks floored us. It might be going a bit too far to say that Stacks brings revolutionary new features and ease of use to building websites with RapidWeaver, but from our early testing we aren’t too far of the mark. Stacks truly is a very special plug-in. Here are the types of stacks available:

• Text
• Images
• HTML
• Columns
• Left Floating Image
• Right Floating Image
• YouTube
• Stack (gives you another area to drop all of the above)

Each stack is also customizable. You can change the color of the stack background, for example, or rotate, scale and blur images via pop-up HUD’s. Oh and did we mention that @import and Loghound’s awesome Plus-Kit plug-in works just fine with Stacks? Well, it does at least in our testing. If you’re curious to see what you can do with Stacks check out our Stacks Demo page. For even more Stacks info watch the screen cast included on the Stacks page. Isaiah Carew of YourHead runs through many of Stacks features and gives a better idea of what it will bring to the RapidWeaver table. Then check out SupportCasts Stacks screen cast for another great video on Stacks,

We’re very excited here at AYAAW and can’t wait for the official release of Stacks next year. Isaiah, here’s our wallet, take what need.

Tags:plug-ins, yourhead

The fine folks at Realmac Software have been hard at work since releasing LittleSnapper last week and have released the first update. Version 1.0.1 includes plenty of fixes and improvements and of course is a free update to paid users.

If you don’t know what LittleSnapper is, check out our “First Look” post from release day and then head on over to Realmac Software’s LittleSnapper website and download the trial. If you’re in need of an outstanding screen snapping app with fantastic organizing features LittleSnapper may be for you.

Tags:update, littlesnapper

In case you weren’t aware, we’ve made a few changes around here. The site has a new more minimalist look and feel to it and the blogging engine has changed. Hopefully JS-Kit, the commenting engine we switched to, is now working properly. Comments won’t be enabled on all posts, especially older ones but going forward they should be available on all new blog entries.

We’re also wrapping up the migration of all old posts to the new blog engine so you’ll have complete access to archived entries as well. Speaking of blog entries, because we changed our blog engine, the RSS Feed has also changed. Unfortunately that means the old bookmark you were using won’t ever update anymore and you need to start using the new one which is:

RSS Feed (you can also find this link in the sidebar)

Hopefully these changes haven’t disrupted you too much and going forward will make for a better visitor experience for all.

Thank you for your understanding.

AYAAW

Tags:update

Apple released Leopard 10.5.6 via Software Update today and it includes a bunch o fixes:

Address Book

• Improves reliability of Address Book syncing with iPhone and other devices and applications.

AirPort

• Improves the reliability of AirPort connections, including improvements when roaming in large wireless networks with an Intel-based Mac.

Client management

• Improves reliability of synchronizing files on a portable home directory.
• Fixes an issue in Mac OS X 10.5.4 and 10.5.5 in which managed users may not see printers that use the Generic PPD.
• Client computers that use UUID-based ByHost preferences now respect managed Screen Saver settings.

iChat

• Addresses an issue that could cause an encryption alert to appear in the chat window.
• Setting your iChat status to "invisible" via AppleScript no longer logs you out of iChat.
• Resolves an issue in which pasting text from a Microsoft Office document could insert an image rather than text.

Graphics

• Includes general improvements to gaming performance.
• Includes graphics improvements for iChat, Cover Flow, Aperture, and iTunes.
• Includes fixes for possible graphics distortion issues with certain ATI graphics cards.

Mail

• Includes overall performance and reliability fixes.
• Improves Connection Doctor accuracy.
• Fixes an issue that could cause messages identified as junk to remain in the inbox.
• Fixes an issue that could cause Mail to append a character to the file extension of an attachment.
• Addresses an issue that could prevent Mail from quitting.
• Improves reliability when printing PDF attachments.

MobileMe

• Contacts, calendars, and bookmarks on a Mac automatically sync within a minute of the change being made on the computer, another device, or the web at me.com.

Networking

• Improves Apple File Service performance, especially when using a home directory hosted on an AFP server. Important: If you are using Mac OS X 10.5.6 (client) to connect to a Mac OS X Server 10.4-based server, it is strongly recommended that you update the server to Mac OS X Server version 10.4.11.
• Improves the performance and reliability of TCP connections.
• Improves reliability and performance for AT&T 3G cards.
• Updates the ssh Terminal command for compatibility with more ssh servers.

Printing

• Improves printing for the Adobe CS3 application suite.
• Improves printing for USB-based Brother and Canon printers.

Parental Controls

• Addresses an issue in which a parentally-controlled account could be unable to access the iTunes Store.
• Includes general fixes for time limits.
• Resolves an issue that prevented adding allowed websites from Safari via drag and drop.

Time Machine

• Fixes issues that could cause Time Machine to state the backup volume could not be found.
• Improves Time Machine reliability with Time Capsule.

Safari

• Improves compatibility with web proxy servers.

General

• Includes Mac OS X security improvements. See this website for more information.
• Addresses inaccuracies with Calculator when the Mac OS X language is set to German or Swiss German.
• Improves the performance and reliability of Chess.
• Improves DVD Player performance and reliability.
• Performance improvements for iCal are included.
• Fixes an issue when running the New iCal Events Automator action as an applet.
• Adds a Trackpad System Preference pane for portable Macs.
• Improves compatibility with smart cards such as the U.S. Department of Defense Common Access Card.
• Updates time zone data and Daylight Saving Time rules for several countries.

You can also download the standalone version of the update here.

Tags:update

MacRumors is reporting that Apple is letting previously banned apps into the iTunes app store and loosening it's grip on the approval process. According to an app developer quoted in the MacRumors article:

"[Apple] told me that they are going to start approving a whole new "genre" of apps, and that Pull My Finger will be the first to be accepted in this genre. As of now Pull My Finger is available in the app store.

The very kind Apple Team Member told me that they didn't want to reject it originally, but that they were sorting out how this "genre" of apps were going to be handled. She told me they'd be lifting the restriction on them, and more apps will follow that may have been previously not allowed."

This is great new to anyone needing that all important iPhone/iPod Touch farting app.

Tags:itunes, app, iphone, ipod, humor

Realmac Software released it's new screen snapping utility, LittleSnapper 1.0 on Thursday. LittleSnapper is a screen snapping utility that incorporates an cataloging and organizing mechanism reminiscent of iPhoto. It solves a problem encountered by anyone who takes a lot of screen shots: keeping screen snaps findable and organized. If you use OS X's built in screen snapping feature (⌘+⇧+4) you'll soon end up with tons of screen snaps named "Picture 1.png", "Picture 2.png" etc., scattered about your desktop and hard drive. Even if you're diligent about keeping your screen snaps named and organized you still have to physically go through the motions of dragging and dropping them into your organizational system. LittleSnapper solves this problem by automatically importing screen shots into it's library.

Once in the library you can name, rate, describe and tag the screen snap for easy searching and finding later. You can further organize your library into folders, Collections and Smart Collections. Folders can contain anything you like: more folders, Collections or Smart Collections. Collections can only contain screen snaps and Smart Collections contain screen snaps based on rules you set when creating the collection. If you've ever used iPhoto or similar cataloging software you'll be comfortable with LittleSnapper's features and modes of operation.

So far, what I described above could be achieved with Skitch, SnapzPro, OS X's built in screen shot taking feature or any other screen capture program and your own organizational folder scheme (folders for libraries and collections) and although it wouldn't be automated, it is certainly doable. What sets LittleSnapper apart from these apps, however, is that the whole process is mostly automated. After taking the screen snap, LittleSnapper imports it and you just drag and drop it to the appropriate Library and collection. If you set up Smart Collections LittleSnapper can do this for you as well.

Another killer LittleSnapper feature is it's ability to take screen shots of full web pages. No longer do you have to take multiple screen snaps of really long webpages only to have to stitch them back together in an image editing app. Just navigate in Safari, Firefox, Camino, Omniweb or other supported browser to the page you want and tell LittleSnapper to snap the page. This type of functionality won't be of use to everyone but it's a boon to web developers and designers.

Of course, LittleSnapper comes with all the "normal" annotation tools you'd expect: Square, Circle, Text, Lines and Arrows. It also comes with a really slick Blur tool that allows you to obscure parts of your snap, like a username that was taken as part of the snap for example, or you can emphasize parts of your snap by blurring everything else. Slick!

All Capture commands are readily accessible in LittleSnapper's menu bar control: Snap Web Address From Safari, Open Current Website In LittleSnapper, Snap Full Screen, Snap Area, Snap Window. You can also open LittleSnapper's Preferences from the menu bar as well as quit the program.

By now you're probably thinking that LittleSnapper just might be the best thing since sliced bread and we'd probably agree but it gets even better. LittleSnapper allows you to take screen shots of individual elements on a page. Just load the webpage into LittleSnapper and then using it's DOM Element snapping feature move your cursor around and different page elements will highlight. When you find the one that you want, click it and then click Snap. You now have a screen snap of just that element. The real beauty of the webpage and element snapping features is that LittleSnapper also saves the associated HTML for you to look at later!

The last and possibly most important feature (ok they're all important but this is the one that'll allow us to move away from Skitch) is Realmac's QuickSnapper screen snap sharing service. Like Skitch, the QuickSnapper service is free and comes integrated with LittleSnapper: you just have to create an account which you can do right from within the app. With QuickSnapper you have the ability to upload snaps directly from the Share button in the LittleSnapper toolbar. Once shared, others can view and comment on your snap. QuickSnapper also automatically generates code for inserting into forum posts, code for an HTML link and the URL to the full image. Best of all QuickSnapper will generate a tiny URL for using with Twitter! You can also search other users images and import them into your own library with a click of a button.

LittleSnapper isn't perfect yet and is missing a few key features. We here at AYAAW need to be able to tale snaps of application menus as well as menu bar menus. As of version 1.0 there is no way to do this and we had to dust off Skitch to take the snap of LittleSnapper's menu bar menu. SnapzPro can take snaps of menus via a hot key combo and Skitch's timed snap allows for this as well. It would also be nice to be able to name, rate and tag snaps as they're imported. As it is now, you take the snap, LittleSnapper imports it and you then enter this info in the Inspector. This isn't a huge issue but if naming, rating and tagging the image were part of the importing workflow, it would just be a lot quicker process. Also, as the world's worst speller's we need LittleSnapper to be able to tap into OS X's spelling and grammar checker for Text annotating. No doubt Realmac is already busy on the next version of LittleSnapper and maybe these features will make it into a future release. Keep your fingers crossed.

LittleSnapper is an incredible tool for those of us who have to take and organize screen shots on a daily basis. Even for the casual snapper, LittleSnapper is a compelling application. Realmac Software has priced LittleSnapper at $39 which is a steal if you ask us. Check it out and download the demo over at Realmac's LittleSnapper website.

Tags:announcement, new, screensnap

TweakerSoft recently updated it's awesome VectorDesigner to 1.4.7. The update fixes a few bugs and is free to all existing VD () owners.

Tags:vector, graphics, software

We're not sure how this slip past us but RapidWeaver Themes, one of our favorite RapidWeaver design outfits, released a new theme on Friday by the name of Buzz. Buzz incorporates the new Extra Content feature we reported with the announcement and release of seyDesigns Gotem theme.

“NOT ONLY IS THE BUZZ THEME A "3 COLUMN MASTERPIECE" IT IS ALSO ONE OF THE FIRST THEMES TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE ALL NEW "MY EXTRA CONTAINERS" BY ADDING 4 EXTRA CONTENT CONTAINERS TO THE THEME. THE "MY EXTRA CONTAINERS" IS A COLLABORATIVE EFFORT FROM ADAM MERRIFIELD AT SEYDESIGN, GIUSEPPE CARUSO AT (((BONSAI STUDIO))). THESE EXTRA CONTAINERS WILL GIVE YOU CONTROL THAT YOU HAVE NEVER HAD IN A RW ... UNTIL NOW.”

Besides the Extra Content feature, Buzz offers:

• 17 Stock and Customizable Headers
• 5 RWmultitool Header Slots
• Web friendly width of 960 px
• 7 Pre-Installed "File Sharing" Icons
• Ability to show Blog Categories in either sidebar or in both sidebars
• Colour Picker Options for nearly everything including the "My Extra Containers"
• Valid XHTML and CSS

Buzz is priced at $15.00 and can be purchased at RWT's theme store.

Tags:theme

AppleInsider is reporting that Apple is on the verge of going DRM-free with the iTunes music store. The DRM-free move is rumored to start tomorrow, December 9th:

A report last week brought to AppleInsider's attention by French technology site ElectronLibre asserts that it's now "clear" Apple will spark new interest in its music store by removing DRM from tracks published by Sony, Universal and Warner on December 9th. The site doesn't point to specific sources but is careful to note that Apple is moving cautiously on the matter following difficult negotiations that allegedly had the labels hoping to negotiate what EMI had done for the launch of iTunes Plus in 2007, when it successfully negotiated prices higher before ultimately agreeing to reduce the price to Apple's standard 99 cents. Labels had also been hoping to switch from a monthly reporting of iTunes sales stats to live data, the earlier story suggests. Talks between Apple and the remaining three labels may have been corroborated by a previous CNet story which also mentioned ongoing discussions that would let Apple switch to music without FairPlay restrictions. Shoppers themselves have also noticed songs briefly selling unprotected that weren't either from EMI or independents. More recently, the same site also believes Apple will quickly follow up the move with a promo campaign nicknamed the "12 Days of iTunes" that will let shoppers in France, Germany and the UK download an "unlimited" amount of content just after Christmas.


Read the full story over at AppleInsider.

We don't know about you but if this comes to pass tomorrow it'll make us very, very happy. DRM, even Apple's Fair Play, is onerous and completely unnecessary for the vast amount of people. Success stories like Apple's iTunes Music store show that when given the opportunity, most people are very willing to buy music legally and won't share/pirate digital content as the RIAA and the music industry would have us think. Sure, there will be those that do but treating the vast majority of honest people like thieves and criminals has been a slap to our collective face and no doubt contributed to the slide in sales for the big labels.

This of course is a rumor and should be viewed as such. Luckily, unlike most Apple rumors, we won't have to wait long to find out if it's true.

Tags:drm, rumor

Yesterday, seyDesigns released seyDoggie Gotem theme for RapidWeaver. Gotem is the first RapidWeaver theme that incorporates a new feature: ExtraContent. ExtraContent allows the user to insert extra content into areas of a webpage not normally available in RapidWeaver via a special code snippet that comes bundled with Gotem.

ExtraContent came about when a handful of 3rd party developers got together to address the need for more content spaces in RapidWeaver. While the content area and sidebar are ample space for the vast majority of RapidWeaver users, there are some who want more flexibility to add content in ways keeping with todays modern web designs. ExtraContent was the solution agreed upon by (((Bonsai Studios))), RapidWeaverThemes.com and seyDesign, as an easy means of end users adding more content to their site, in developer designated areas of ExtraContent enabled themes. While these areas will vary from theme to theme, the process will be very much the same. These developers worked closely to come up with a solution that would give all users a common experience.
Features:
◦ ExtraContent enabled
◦ Two ExtraContent areas
◦ 10 Custom headers
◦ RWmultitool Ready
◦ Split navigation
◦ Width control
◦ Header height control
◦ 3 background textures
◦ Dual sidebar control
◦ Choice of font style
◦ Color control
◦ and more...


Gotem sells for $19.49 (CAD) and you can preview the new theme over at seyDesigns.

Tags:theme

Those crazy cats over at MacUpdate are at it again this year with another fantastic holiday promotion. This years bundle includes some outstanding software and as usual you can get it at a ridiculously low price. The promo runs through December 17th and includes the folowing applications:

• RapidWeaver 4
• MacGourmet Deluxe
• iVolume
• WhatSize
• MacPilot
• Default Folder X
• KeyCue
• VirusBarrier X5
• Drive Genius

In addition, if you're one of the first 5000 purchaser's you also recieve iDive from Aquafadas as well, all for only $49.99. That's one heck of a deal espeically if you consider RapidWeaver normally goes for $79 by itself!

Don't be late, as we said this promo runs out on the 17th. Oh, and if you're feeling a little love for AYAAW for pointing out this deal to you, please consider using our affiliate link in the sidebar to purchase the bundle.

Tags:software, deals, macupdate

Wal Mart isn't my favorite store. In fact, if I didn't live in the sticks and had a choice I'd be doing all my shopping at Target (I know, big difference). Anywho, MacRumors is running a rumor that Wal Mart will be selling 4GB iPhones for $99 and a two year contract starting on December 28th. If true, I can hear collective sigh of surrender over at RIM. I know I'd buy one for my Wife to replace her 1st. Gen iPhone and I also know about 15 other people who'd be lined up at the Wal Mart iPhone counter on December 28th ready to dump their other phones in favor of the 3G iPhone.

It's a rumor so take it with a grain of salt.

Joseph Henry

Tags:rumor, 3G, walmart

Looking for a backup power solution for your iPhone or iPod or another stocking stuffer idea for your iPhone/iPod using loved one? If so then check out our Storm Backup Battery review over in the review section. We think it's a winner and sure to please just about anyone. Continue reading after the jump...

Tags:accessories, 3G