Divine Robot has developed a new tool that allows Sony Ericsson mobile users copy and synchronize songs from their iTunes library to their phone.

Mac OS X’s iSync is good for synchronizing your contacts and calendars to your mobile phone, but not so much for your music. iTunes will generally only sync your music with iPods, some older MP3 players, the Motorola ROKR phone, and the iPhone. Not so much help if you want to play songs from your iTunes library on your phone. That’s where the helper-app EasyListening comes in.

Start up the app and plug-in your supported Sony Ericsson phone via USB. Up pops a brushed metal window that looks iSync, showing the name and description of your phone. From there, fire up iTunes and select individual songs or a whole playlist (not supported by all phones) and then drag them to the EasyListening window. You can also use EasyListening to sync songs to a Memory Stick card.

I no longer have a Sony Ericsson phone, so I wasn’t able to test out this application’s syncing abilities, but the process looks to be straight forward. For those of you who have Sony Ericssons, you know the process of dragging and dropping songs to the phone can be difficult, especially because the Mac tends to let invisible files linger. EasyListening ensures that this won’t happen.

EasyListening gives you a couple options in the preferences, allowing you to either copy the songs over to the phone or synchronize a playlist (presumably two way), and where you want the app to save the music, to internal memory or memory card.

EasyListening reportedly generally works with the following Sony Ericsson phones:

K510, K530, K550, K610, K630, K660, K750, K770, K790, K800, K810, K850, T650, S500, V630, W200, W300, W380, W550, W580, W600, W610, W660, W700, W710, W800, W810, W880, W890, W900, W910, Z530, Z550, and Z610.

Keep in mind, however, that because of Digital Rights Management (DRM) on certain iTunes songs, not all tracks will work on your Sony Ericsson phone. unDRM’d iTunes Plus songs should work fine.

If you want to try it out, Divine Robot provides a demo which limits you to 3 song transfers at a time, and if you want to buy, the app will set you back $10.

Instant Messaging: There are a few options here but Meebo easily provides the best experience. It is essentially the same as the other options, however with Meebo you can use your existing account to log into multiple IM accounts at the same time. This however has a secondary purpose that makes it so great. When you’re instant messing with Edge there is a good chance you will get disconnected and miss parts of the conversation. Meebo enables logging when you sign up for an account, so you never miss any part of any conversation, and can refer back to it  at any time. http://meebo.com - automatically loads iPhone version upon visit.

Photo sharing: A sometimes forgotten feature of Flickr, Ringo, and other photo sites is the ability to add photos via e-mail. While this method isn’t as snazzy as iFlickr, you do have options of sending your photos with titles, descriptions, tags, and privacy settings. For your own e-mail upload addresses check in your Flickr or Ringo tools section. I suggest adding them as contacts with simple name like “flickr public” and “flickr friends.”

Netflix: While the iPhone does provide full access to the web, some sites are just a pain to navigate in a small screen. Netflix does not have an iPhone specific mobile site, but they do have a plain Jane one that allows full queue management and search functionality. The only drawback with using this site outside of it not looking pretty, is the lack of a webclip icon. https://www.netflix.com/Mobile/Login

Movie Times: Fandango and MovieTickets both have iPhone sites, but you may find them unintuitive and clunky, taking too long to find a movie in your area. Google however has a less pretty, but much faster solution - which is all the more important when you’re not on a WiFi network. Enter your zip and it shows movies, average ratings and reviews, and links to purchase tickets for multiple theaters in the area. http://www.google.com/movies?sc=1&hl=en&near=&rl=1

Your other option is Cinema - A newer webapp I switched to just today that has a great interface and is slightly easier to read than Google Showtimes. The drawback in comparison is the lack of reviews and IMDB links. http://themacbox.co.uk/iphone/cinema/

TV Times: A simple TV Guide is exactly what it claims to be. It allows you to sort by day or channels, change time zones easily, and search for specific shows. http://tv.comoki.com

Games: Unfortunately the nature of web apps limits the control you have for gaming in a browser, so you cannot expect much more than puzzle games and Myst-like point and tap adventures. There are  plenty of TicTacToe games and the like, but frankly it’s silly to do those games on iPhone when you can use a napkin or piece of paper without any load times. I find iSudoku, iPipes, and Bewjewled kill time the fastest in a doctors office or on the train.

Podcasting: To catch the latest podcasts without syncing your phone you can use Podcaster. You can add your favorites directly from your iTunes Library and find new podcasts within the app. The only downside of listening through your browser is that you cannot surf to other places while the file is playing. Some of my favorite podcasts are BuzzOutLoud, Gadgettes, Cranky Geeks and of course The MacCast (/shameless plug). http://podcaster.soprotech.com/

Passwords: We’ve talked about it many times, and now 1Password can sync to your iPhone and uses unique, secure bookmarks to autofill forms on websites. Your longwindedly secure passwords now don’t have to be typed out! 1Password has an extremely generous trial and is very affordable.

That’s all for now. I will follow up soon with more web apps and tips for making the most out of your iPhone. As as side note, users who bank with Bank of America have an amazing web app that gives you access to your account and finds ATM locations. Definitely worth checking out, even if you use another bank. The side is so good it makes me want to switch over from Commerce.

A podcast about all things Macintosh. For Mac geeks, by Mac geeks. Show 225. iPhone coming to Canada this year. Strings point to iPhone as an iTunes remote. New iPod+iTunes TV Ad. iMacs revved to 3.06GHz. Apple Store help like a rainbow. BBC comes to iTunes US, iTunes rentals same day as DVD. 3G iPhones cheaper from AT&T. Apple brings Java SE 6 to Leopard. Maccast One Minute Tip is Back!! Make sure you Mac can breathe. Safari has a local SQL database. Confusion when troubleshooting with clones. Human-powered transcription app. Mail eating memory and crashing. Where do Recovered Files come from? When is a backup, not a backup?

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He slimed me. — Ghostbusters (1984)

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A podcast about all things Macintosh. For Mac geeks, by Mac geeks. Show 224. Euro iPhone news abounds. Apple has best 2nd quarter ever. Apple acquires chip designing prowess. Changes made to Apple Software update for Windows. iPhone SDK Beta 4 released. Bootcamp update adds SP3 support. AT&T wi-fi making it’s Starbuck appearance. My thoughts on OS X Security. What’s the deal with “Open with…”. Roll your own Intel Mac Mini upgrades. Speech to text from audio file. Exploring the mysteries of MAMP. Mac fans blazing with high CPU? Blame Windows. Get rid of nagging system updates.

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I’ll never look like Barbie. Barbie doesn’t have bruises. — Sid and Nancy (1986)

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Today, Psystar tried to put all naysayers to rest by posting this video on their web site. They claim it shows their Open Computers running OS X Leopard, Ubuntu 8, and Windows Xp Professional. Now I am not refuting their claims, but as I watched the video I did notice some things that seem just too wonky not to point out. Besides I always love a good conspiracy theory.

As the video opens we see the alleged Open Computer running OS X on the far left. There is a bundle of small cables under the desk below the system and it looks like they are probably Ethernet cables. Nothing too unusual but, as you will see, they later seem to disappear. Even more unusual is the space below the desk on the right where there is an empty wire rack shelf system. Note that at this point in the video there seems to be nothing there. Also note that the area to the right of the display is empty. These two points will become significant later.

As the camera pans right we see the Ubuntu machine and the Windows box. Both have several cables coming out the side of the computer and running to the right toward the monitor.

Now notice the Mac system… no cables coming off to the right like with the Ubuntu and PC systems. Also notice that the bundle of Ethernet-like cables pointed out in the opening scene no longer seem to be visible.

Next the video transitions into showing the Open Computer supposedly running Leopard and the Mac version of Quake 4. What is interesting in this shot is there now seems to be an extra cable running from the right of the monitor toward the area of the desk where the empty wire shelf system sits. That shelf is also no longer empty as it looks like it now has a strange blue box sitting on it. At first I thought the cable near the monitor might be the mouse cable, but in the Quake demo scene you can clearly see the mouse cable moving with this mysterious second cable above it. The thicker cable does seem to be the monitor cable and it is going off to the right not the left. Remember, the Open Computer that is supposed to be running OS X Leopard is to the left of the monitor, not the right. Interesting.

Finally, the closing shot shows the exterior of the Psystar offices. When reports of Psystar and their Open Computer (initially called the Open Mac) first surfaced on the web, several reports noted that they changed their address as many as 3 times. Now that fact alone is strange enough, but throw in a phone number with an oddly high number of 6’s, plus the fact that they seem to want to keep things private and you have the makings of a full blown conspiracy.

Can someone ring up Fox and see if he is available to come down to Florida?

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Maccast Loop - Episode 048
The Maccast Loop is your opportunity to become a part of the Maccast. Each week the hottest topics and issues from the Maccast will be discussed and you will have the opportunity to give your feedback LIVE. Join host Adam Christianson and producer Victor Cajiao (Typical Mac User Podcast) as you become part of the show. Share your thoughts, opinions, tips, tricks, and knowledge of all things Macintosh. The Maccast Loop completes the circuit, closes the loop, and brings the Maccast community even closer.

Links:
Apple .Mac
Rapidweaver, Real Mac Software
Sandvox, Karelia Software
GoDaddy, web hosting
Wordpress.com
Wordpress.org

Thanks to my audio engineer and producer, Victor Cajiao (Typical Mac User Podcast [iTunes]) and to all the listeners and participants who make this show possible.

A podcast about all things Macintosh. For Mac geeks, by Mac geeks. Show 223. iPhone 2.0 analysis triggers speculation. iPhone 3G Chipset revealed? Apple releases Pro applications update. Apple beefs up new legal team. Company offers OS X compatible clones. Apple confirms graphics glitches in notebooks. US Apple shipment rise, while PCs fall. Removing Files from Old TimeMachine Backups. Review: Audioengine W1. Some other ways to use Windows browsers on a Mac. Use your Mac as a WiFi hotspot. Too many Airports can be confusing. My thoughts on FileVault. Enable menu bar item to screenlock your Mac. How can I use Apple TV with Standard def TV?

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New music, Rockin’ Our Sales by Bruce ServicePack and the Vista [video]

Get your patchouli stink outta my store. — High Fidelity (2000)

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A podcast about all things Macintosh. For Mac geeks, by Mac geeks. Show 222. TV hits iTunes in Germany. New TV Ads for iPhone and Macs. Apple Updates iTunes 7.6.2, QuickTime 7.4.5 and Front Row 2.1.3. Apple gets #1 music retailer spot in the US. Uncle Walt says 3G iPhone in 60 Days. Redesigns for future Mac notebooks? AirPort Disk Time Machine support off again? FinalCut Server now shipping. iPhone Developers hit with Pink Screen O’ Death (PSOD). EFI firmware updates. Follow-up on CD read errors and labels. Accessing non-Mac supported sites. Making System fonts bigger. Automatically disconnecting from servers. Remotely access a PC from your Mac. Moving Outlook to Mac. Using user accounts and sudo. Hate cable clutter? So does Jack.

New music, Wakeup by Once Just

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I never did one thing right in my life, you know that? Not one. That takes skill. — The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996)

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Maccast Loop - Episode 046
In this episode we talk about recent issues with using TimeMachine, AirDisks, and Time Capsule. Specifically, we discuss issues with TimeMachine disks filling up and what steps you can take to troubleshoot this common problem. We go over how TimeMachine fits into an overall methodology for performing backups and look at other tools that help round out your entire backup strategy. In this show we also take a look at using your Mac for business, discuss cool Mac business apps, and talk about using your Mac for banking and preparing your taxes.

Links:
WhatSize, from id-design, inc.
Disk Inventory X, by Tjark Derlien
GrandPerspective
Super Duper, from Shirt Pocket
Carbon Copy Cloner, from Bombich
iBiz and iBank, from Igg Software
Cha-Ching, from Midnight Apps
Billings 2, from Marketcircle
Billable, from ClickableBliss
Freshbooks, from 2ndSite Inc.
Receipt Wallet, from GGT Enterprises
LightSpeed, Xsilva
Crywolf Computers
Checkout, MYOB

Thanks to my audio engineer and producer, Victor Cajiao (Typical Mac User Podcast [iTunes]) and to all the listeners and participants who make this show possible.

I am not sure how long this has been around in Firebox, but at least in the latest version of Firefox 3 beta for Mac I stumbled cross this trick. This morning while working on other things I accidentally dropped a folder from the Finder into a Firefox window I had in the background. Imagine my surprise when I saw what you see in the image above. Firefox displayed the contents of the folder in a file browser like structure. I could navigate up and down the directory tree and there was even an option to turn on and off viewing of invisible files. I did notice that it won’t allow you to navigate to the root of your hard drive, but files that can be viewed normally in a browser (like image files or Quicktime movies) will show up right inside Firefox. They have also done a very nice job with the user interface. It sorta reminds me of .Mac.

Now normally this shouldn’t be surprising considering that many browsers can view file systems on remote servers (if the feature is turned on and allowed in the server configuration), but this works locally. I also know that Internet Explorer on Windows has been able to do this trick for years, but this is on a Mac. The trick also does not work in Safari, at least not in the current version of Safari running under OS 10.5.2.

Figure 1:
Selecting Image & Wireframe from the View pop-up Menu.

Moving clips is very simple, just click and hold on the clip and drag it anywhere it’s needed. But to more precisely position video clips or images a few pixels in any direction for better placement or alignment you need to nudge them. Dragging is good for general placement, but it’s much more difficult to drag to a specific pixel location. To nudge clips in Final Cut Pro select the clip (video, still image, title, etc.) in the Canvas and then press the Option key and any of the up, down, left or right arrow keys. The clip will then move approximately one pixel in that direction (I say approximately because in my installation of FCP 6 it moves .75 pixels and in a older installation of FCP 5.0.4 it moves 1.11 pixels). For a finer degree of nudging, pressing the Command-Option and Arrow keys will move the object in sub-pixel increments.

In Motion select the object in the Canvas (or the layer in the project panel) and then press the Command and Arrow keys to move 1 pixel and Command-Shift-Arrow keys to move 10 pixels.

In LiveType (remember LiveType?) you can nudge by using either the Command or Option keys plus the Arrow keys.

The next time a clip needs to be moved precisely, just remember these easy keyboard short cuts.

Next time on SGV we’ll highlight basic motion tracking in Motion to provide another way for titles and other graphic elements to keep pace with your video.

A podcast about all things Macintosh. For Mac geeks, by Mac geeks. Show 221. Case of the missing iPhones. Apple sales up in down market. Safari 3.1 and Webkit rocked the ACID test. Macbook Air hacked. Apple releases v2 of iPhone SDK. Apple TV Update 2.0.1. Some follow-up on music sharing. Google map hack for older iPods. CDs with labels are unreliable. Automator and iCal, the perfect auto scheduling pair. Mac log file maintenance. My experience hacking the AppleTV. My thoughts on Apple refurbished products

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New music, Routine and Dollar Signs by Goodnight Sunrise

These humans are dangerous, don’t you understand that? They think that they’re as good as we are!” — Planet of the Apes (1974)

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About a month or so ago I was contacted by the local NBC affiliate here in San Diego to get my thoughts on a story they were working on based on a report they had received from their Washington DC office. The story was about a woman that someone from the DC station knew who’s 2nd gen iPod Nano exploded and caught fire while charging. The basic spin they wanted on the story was that iPods were potentially unsafe and could catch fire. Trouble is, neither I nor any other expert they could track down would play along. In the end they ended up doing a broader piece on dangers of lithium ion batteries. Maybe not 100% accurate, but there have been some recalls and (despite the sensational promos and story headline) the story did a fairly decent job explaining that in normal use these batteries are relatively safe and it’s only when the batteries are improperly handled that there could be some issues. I was interviewed on camera for over 20 minutes and ended up with just a quick sound byte at about 3:11 in. You can see the whole segment in the Quicktime video above (click the image to play). They did get a nice shot of the modded Apple logo on my G4 iBook.

It looks like Google has darkened it’s homepage in honor of Earth Hour. “On Saturday, March 29, 2008, Earth Hour invites people around the world to turn off their lights for one hour – from 8:00pm to 9:00pm in their local time zone.”

The Earth Hour event was created by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in 2007 and was designed to raise awareness and support for fighting the effects of global climate change. I personally was not aware of the event until the Twitter from Scoble and I think it’s great to see Google supporting the cause. I personally will be sitting in the dark tonight from 8:00 to 9:00PM. Care to join me?

A podcast about all things Macintosh. For Mac geeks, by Mac geeks. Show 220. Adobe position on Flash for iPhone clarifies. Airport updates. Safari 3.1 released. Other Apple updates. Rumors of a pending iTunes subscription model. Mac Mini ready for rebirth? One more step for admin to user account conversion. Apologies to Growl. Wi-fi issues? Check your channels. More info on iPhone audio interference. Apple missed some things with the iPhone user experience. New photo enhancing app for keyboard jockeys, Iguania Review of Newsfire. iCopy, the solution for iPhone copy/paste? Mac maintenance, what should you do?

New music, “Sparkle Nice Too” by MayBTed.

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I got an idea for a movie. - Get Shorty (1995)

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A podcast about all things Macintosh. For Mac geeks, by Mac geeks. A special episode of the Maccast from Macworld 2008. I talk with AJ from Marketcircle about the fallout from his now infamous “Apple should keep out of the enterprise” blog post. We discuss how it was sensationalized by the blogs and online community and get to the real intent behind the piece. We also discuss Marketcircle’s latest product updates to Daylite and Billings, plus touch on AJ’s thoughts on Apple’s new Macbook Air.

Links:
Marketcircle
Marketcircle Blog
Daylite
Billings 2

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A podcast about all things Macintosh. For Mac geeks, by Mac geeks. A special episode of the Maccast from Macworld 2008. I speak with Sam from Netgear about some of their new offerings in storage. The ReadyNAS Duo is a new two drive version of the popular ReadyNAS NV+ line which Netgear acquired from Infrant Technologies last year.

Links:
Netgear
ReadyNAS Duo

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A podcast about all things Macintosh. For Mac geeks, by Mac geeks. Show 219. Rumors of Beatles on iTunes yet again. Non technical issues arise with Macbook Air. iPod software updates. Apple slowing NAND Flash purchases. Developer demand for iPhone 2.0 high. iPhone hits Austria and Ireland. Airport Express update soon? iPhone: the world’s lamest cut and paste. Lots of reports of Wifi issues with 10.5.2. Don’t use administrator accounts. Apple TV and HD home video. How to legally share music. Got an iPhone, but what’s that annoying sound? Quicklook for older document formats. Why don’t all iPhone apps do horizontal? The universal sound fix. Search audio and Video podcasts

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New music, Too Far Gone by Forget the Girl [iTunes]

It seems to me the only thing you’ve learned is that Caesar is a “salad dressing dude.” — Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989)

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