Linked List: June 8, 2006

Thursday, 8 June 2006

Cocoa Help: Mentoring and Immediate Answers ★

Scott Stevenson is offering one-on-one Cocoa mentoring and instruction for $85/hour. Judging from his weblog, I’ll bet he’s really good at this.

VisualHub: The Universal Video Converter for Mac ★

$23.32 video converter app for Mac OS X from the author of the freeware iSquint. (Via Bill Bumgarner, who praises both the software and the manual.)

WireTap Pro 1.2.0 ★

Small feature update and Intel-based-Mac compatibility for Ambrosia Software’s app for recording audio from any source on your Mac.

Audio Hijack and Audio Hijack Pro Updates ★

Small feature updates and more Intel-based-Mac compatibility for Rogue Amoeba’s apps for recording audio from any source on your Mac.

Multi-Safari ★

Michel Fortin has released standalone versions of each version of Safari. The 1.x versions from 10.3 still only run on 10.3, and the 2.x versions from 10.4 still only run on 10.4, but, if you need or want to test against older versions of Safari, this is a lot better than keeping a different bootable version of the entire OS around for each version of Safari.

Apple Introduces the New U2 iPod ★

Somehow I missed this yesterday. Now that black iPods, in and of themselves, are no longer a novelty, the most noticeable differences are the red scroll wheel (carried over from the old U2 iPod) and the black metallic case backing (which is new).

All I Ever Needed to Know About Developing for Windows, I Learned From Rogue Amoeba ★

Paul Kafasis on the differences between the indie software markets for Mac and Windows (based on a month or so of sales data for Rogue Amoeba’s Windows port of Airfoil).

It’s Hopeless ★

Anil Dash on the experience of getting The Gimp installed and running on Windows.

Robotics as an Invitation to Girls Into Computer Science and Engineering ★

Iguana Robotics:

Since this study, Iguana has conducted many classroom and informal learning studies that offered the same conclusion. Students love robots and girls particularly seem motivated by them. The creative possibilities and interactive qualities of a robot are very appealing to young women. This motivation could lead more young women into the male-dominated fields of computer science and engineering.

Jackass of the Week: Seattle Times Columnist Brier Dudley ★

Seattle Times columnist Brier Dudley:

By smugly asserting that Macs are ultrasecure, Apple leaves the impression that its customers can let down their guard. It’s like a carmaker saying with a wink that its vehicles are so safe that you don’t need to worry about your seat belt.

Meanwhile, Macs are likely to be the target of more computer attacks as the systems become more popular.

What a jackass. MacUser’s Scott Silverman does the smackdown so I don’t have to.

Google Browser Sync ★

Google:

Google Browser Sync for Firefox is an extension that continuously synchronizes your browser settings — including bookmarks, history, persistent cookies, and saved passwords — across your computers. It also allows you to restore open tabs and windows across different machines and browser sessions

This is better synching — for free — than Safari users get for $99/year from .Mac.

Motorola’s Q: Lovely Phone; Ugly Software ★

David Pogue reviews Motorola’s new Q mobile phone, which is sort of a $200 cross between a Trea 700 and a BlackBerry. He loves the hardware (small, slim form factor; good screen; good miniature keyboard) but savages the software, which is from Microsoft.