Appletell

Facebook chat is a little awkward… it’s stuck in the browser, and even if popped out, it still runs in Safari. By closing the window, or moving to a new tab, you close your chat. Fortunately, Mac OS X makes it easy to run Facebook Chat separately from Safari. Here are the two easiest ways:

Web Clip in Dashboard
Simply navigate to Facebook, use the chat menu to pop out the chat in a new window, and choose “File > Open in Dashboard.” Then, arrange it as you please. I chose to make only my buddy list visible, so I can easily check who is online before starting to chat. When I wanted to chat, I either went to Facebook, or resized the widget to show the chat.

Fluid.app
This method is the better one for someone who wants to do heavier-duty chatting. First, download the free and awesome Fluid.app at http://fluidapp.com.  Then, launch Fluid, and type the following address into the field:

http://facebook.com/presence/popout.php

Give it a name like “Facebook Chat,” and save it. There you go! You now have a native Facebook Chat application.

With so much mayhem surrounding Psystar, the company that announced last week the availability of what are essentially Mac clones, I thought it a good idea to give an easy-reader breakdown of all the fuss.

It all started April 14th, when Psystar came out of nowhere claiming to be selling OpenMac computers, essentially really cheap Macs. The internet erupted with questions over the legality of it all. Someone named Robert then came forward and said that Psystar would challenge Apple’s license agreement in court. Then an official spokesperson from Psystar denied that Robert spoke for the company. The company’s website went down due to heavy traffic, adding to the pandemonium. Many assumed Psystar was a hoax or scam and had been taken down.

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For those of you who are unsatisfied with the current MacBook Air (or the iPhone, iMac, MacBook Pro or iPod Classic, and who value looks and style over functionality (or in some cases a lack thereof), this mod is for you.  Computer Choppers, an Oregon-based company, will take one of the previously mentioned Apple products and really pimp it out.  You have the choice of five precious metals and four semi-precious metals to cover your computer in, and other add-ons such as multi-colored sapphire Apple Logos on your computer. 

The main feature of their line if a 24 karat gold MacBook Air.  For $5,000, you can get a base-line MBA sheathed in the shiny stuff, and for another $3,000, you can get the Apple logo on the top cover replaced by multi-colored sapphires (of course using the original Apple Logo color scheme).  Other specialties include a Platinum iMac, a Rose Gold iPhone, and a Black Nickel iPod Classic. 

Via [9 to 5 Mac\

So you just switched from a PC to a Mac and you’re completely lost on what to do.  Fortunately, there is plenty of options available to learn about your new machine.  The best part?  Many of these options are free!  Here they are:

1) Apple Store Sessions:  If you head on over to you nearest Apple Store’s Calendar of Events, you will find a whole schedule full of free sessions they offer.  These sessions are made to help you get to know your computer and the software on it and are usually one hour in length.  A small price to pay for how helpful and smart some of those Apple employees are if you ask me.

2) Podcasts:  Podcasts are a great way to learn about anything, not just Macs.  However, if you want to use these free audio/video services to help you, I recommend it.  Apple even offers it’s Quick Tip of the Week (note: iTunes link) video podcast.  The advice that comes from most of these feeds is extremely high quality.

3) Application Help Menus:  In almost every application on your Mac there is a “Help” menu item.  Filled with FAQs, these are a great place to read how to do a certain task.  Just type in what you are looking for and you will most likely find a few options to help you.  I, to this day, still find myself using these sometimes.

4) Google!! Google is your friend.  Always.  Anything that is on the internet is on Google.  Just type in your question and you will instantly have numerous ways to go about answering it.

5) The Community:  Join a social networking site and make some friends.  Your bound to find someone who knows how to do what you are trying to.  The internet is a great place to meet new people and get advice from them.

How can you really show your mom that you love her this Mother’s Day?  With an Apple product, of course!  So if you’re wondering what you can get for the rapidly approaching May 11th, look no more, you can find it all here!

1) Mom’s love photos and memories, so get her an Apple photo book! You know how the saying goes, “A picture is worth 1,000 words.” Gather up all those old memories from this year and put them together in a nice, high quality book that your mother can cherish forever.  Plus, Apple is making it even easier with 20% of photo books just by using the promo code “LoveMom.” Just make sure you order in time so the books makes it for Mother’s Day.

2) Introduce them to the tech world with an iPod Shuffle! Only $49 and coming in five separate colors, an iPod Shuffle is the perfect way to show your mom you love her.  You can load it with all of her favorites songs before you give it to her and really make her smile, too!  Not only that, but they are extremely portable, light weight, and make for good fashion statements.

3) Keep in touch with a new Mac!:  If money isn’t a factor, go ahead and get her a new computer.  With the iSight camera and Leopard, it is easier than ever to have a great time video chatting.  She will thinks it’s awesome and you’ll have fun doing it, what more could you ask for on Mother’s Day?

4) If home made is more your style, use iLife! All Macs come with great pre-installed editing software.  If you want to give your mom something truly from the heart, make her a movie or slideshow with her favorites pictures and clips.  They love to see that you took the time to create something wonderful for them.

5) If your mom already has all the above, give her the gift of Apple with a gift card!:  Whether it be for iTunes or the store, everyone loves have the freedom to spend their money one what they want.  Get your mother a gift card and allow her to choose something for herself.  You can always find something at the Apple Store to spend some money on.

Famous modder Ben Heckendorn is at it again, this time with an Apple IIgs laptop.  This laptop is very impressive, and although it may seem dangerous, Ben said it gives off just about as much heat as a pocket calculator (calculators give off heat?).  Here are the full specs:

• 15-inch screen
• Original Apple IIgs motherboard
• Custom acrylic keyboard with laser etched keys
• Compact Flash adapter as the hard drive
• Side port access for floppy drive, joystick, and mouse
• Original mouse
• Glowing blue “][” logo
• Built-in stereo speakers

This isn’t Ben’s only awesome creation, be sure to check out his PS3 mod as well.  Also, there are more pictures and a video up on his site.

Yesterday, a funny yet careless thing happened.  In both Circuit City’s and Radio Shack’s weekend newspaper circulars, in their iPod Touch Ads, the Touches shown were Jailbroken.  It is very surprising that this slip was able to get through the art department for both companies.  Maybe they should ban Google Images during their ad campaigns to prevent something like this from happening.  In the picture to the right, you can see MobileChat and Installer icons, both of which require the iPod to be JailBroken before they can be installed.  Apple has had a very hard time with losing the 3rd party app market, and Mr. Jobs won’t be too happy that this hacked product is not only easily done to an iPod touch, but that the fact is being broadcast in some of the most popular newspapers.  Customers of these two popular companies may also discover that they in fact do not get the extra features with their iPod, and to add them is to void your warranty.  The biggest lesson here: check the facts before going to the press.

Via [Engadget]

Product: Photoshop Elements 6.0
Link: Photoshop Elements 6.0
Price: $89 USD
Rating: 8/10

In February, I reviewed a beta version of Photoshop Elements 6.0. I focused on interface, speed and features. As a whole, my review hasn’t changed too much.

In February, I wrote that “launching Photoshop Elements is a painful process. Startup took about 17 seconds: six bounces of the icon on the dock, then about 11 seconds on the splash screen. This is about the same as Photoshop Elements 4.0, which was running through emulation.” The final version of Photoshop has most definitely improved in this area, beating CS3 for start time, taking about 10 seconds on a cold start, which is very acceptable. 

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I just received a 23” Cinema Display. I bought it off of eBay for the “cheap” price of $600. This is a steal compared to Apple’s list price of $899 before tax and shipping, but a rip-off when comparing it to a similar monitor.

Before the Cinema Display, I had a 24” HP. Cost? $369, before tax and shipping. It had four USB ports compared to the Cinema’s two. It could tilt from perpendicular to the desk all the way to parallel to it. It could move up and down. It could swivel. It could even rotate to portrait mode. It was very feature-paced for only about $400, but I got a Cinema Display anyway. I’m a sucker for the Apple brand.

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Surely you remember Adobe’s new web-based image editor, Photoshop Express.  Why would Adobe release part of Photoshop’s power for free to the public?  Simple.  They want to allow users to familiarize themselves with some of the features of PS for free in hopes that they will then go on to purchase the boxed version.  Now, it just so happens that one of Photoshop’s main competitors, Aperture, is made by Apple.  What is Apple doing to drive sales of their image editor software?  Frankly, not enough.  The real question is, what can they do?  If you ask me, it starts with .Mac Web Gallery, but first some important changes must be made to it.

1) Obviously, add image editing features to it. The image viewing on .Mac Web Gallery is slick and easy as you would expect from an Apple product, but it could be so much more.  Allow users to edit the photo while online just like Photoshop Express does, except with an Aperture style twist, and you’ve got yourself one awesome platform.  This, like PS Express, could give users a chance to see what Aperture is like without having to install a whole demo.  It could also prove to the user how functional Aperture can be, even at a limited level.  Who knows, maybe they will like the online version so much they will buy the desktop version which would be the whole goal in the first place.

2) Open it up! Currently, the only way to have a Web Gallery is to purchase a .Mac Membership, a $99.95 a year package.  Why limit this great service to just a select few who are willing to pay for it?  Steve Jobs said it himself in a 2007 press conference, people are moving away from hard media and onto digital media.  Apple should be helping them do this by easing the difficulty of the transition (i.e. making a service like this free).  Giving them a free, easy to use, feature limited (compared to the desktop version) Aperture online would be a great start to opening up this service and getting some hype behind Aperture.

3) Build a community around it. Everywhere you go, you hear it, “Companies need to start embracing social media.” In my opinion, Apple hasn’t done much to that effect.  They could use .Mac Web Gallery as a social service that would not only allow for image editing, but a better way of sharing media.  Sure, you can share your Gallery now by sending friends and family the link, but I mean at a higher level, such as being able to add friends.  Mr. Jobs also mentioned in that same keynote that the point of this service was to make “send [your media] to the world.” If so, make it easier and more fun to do that.  “If you build it, they will come.”

As with anything. there would be roadblocks in tackling such a task.  For example, how do deal with the extra traffic to the servers and how much space to give each user.  However, Apple has plenty of money to make this work and the outcome would be worth it.  In summary, all Apple needs to do it open up .Mac Web Gallery (also, untie it from the .Mac package) and add some more features to it.  If you’re from Apple, this would be great to have by, let’s say, June.  Sound good?  Awesome.