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Airlock automatically locks and unlocks your Mac using your iPhone or iPod touch

Filed under: Odds and ends

Like many people reading this article, I spend my day with my iPhone in my pocket. When I leave my office, I don’t have to think about bringing my iPhone with me, it’s already with me. Now if I step out of my office for more than a few seconds, my MacBook Pro automatically locks itself, and when I return, it automatically unlocks itself.

I’ve been using Airlock for about a week, and think it is pretty much the perfect balance between security and convenience. There is even a manual login option which lets you bypass Airlock using your regular login password (handy in case your iPhone battery dies or you need to use your computer without your iPhone around, possibly because your 7 year-old son has absconded with it to play Super Monkey Ball 2 again).

Airlock will let you automatically open applications when you come into range or go out of range. The functionality is a little limited at the moment – for example, I’d like a way to automatically set my iChat status as “away” when I’m gone and “available” when I’m back. That can be accomplished if you know how to write AppleScript, but it seems like an obvious feature to build in. There are other possible uses for this I can imagine: telling Mail.app to check for mail as soon as I get back, or telling NetNewsWire to resume downloading when I walk out of the room and pause it when I get back, so it will do those functions when my computer is otherwise idle. Again, if those things are possible it would require you to know how to code them in AppleScript.

Airlock will also only “pair” with one device at a time, which can cause problems if several people use the same Mac. For example, if I lock my iMac at home with my iPhone using Airlock and my wife wants to use it, she needs to have my account password, or else she can’t get into the computer (there is no way for her to access the regular login panel, which would be another big feature request). However, for the usual use-case of one person and one Mac at an office, Airlock works great.

The webpage also warns that “due to a bug in Mac OS X, Airlock may not be compatible with computers that use wireless keyboards or mice.” You can use Airlock for up to three hours without registering, which I would encourage everyone to do. (You can quit it and relaunch it for another three hours also.)

Airlock also recommends making the “activation range slightly larger than it appears necessary.” Wireless signal strength isn’t an exact science, and interference is possible. I found that sitting across the room from my iMac at home I was much more likely to run into interference than sitting next to my MacBook Pro at my desk at the office.

The dot shows you where your iPhone is located in proximity to Airlock. You can also adjust how often Airlock checks for your iPhone’s presence. Checking more often will secure your Mac faster, but will increase the drain on your iPhone battery. There is a slider available to change between “better battery life” and “more responsive.”

Fellow TUAW-er Brett Terpstra suggested that “do it yourself” folks might be able to mimic this behavior using RedHand (€ 1.49) and Proximity (free) but added “I found absolutely no method of Bluetooth proximity detection that didn’t occasionally boot me out to a lock screen at least once every few hours when I (and my fully-charged, often docked, iPhone) were sitting right next to it.” While I was writing this article with my iPhone charging and hooked to my MacBook Pro, Airlock locked me out once. I toggled Bluetooth on my iPhone off/on and Airlock unlocked.

It’s not foolproof, but Airlock is one of those great little gems which solves a problem simply and easily, making life a little easier. I hope to see a few improvements (and hope that Mac OS X bug gets fixed for those who use wireless keyboards and mice) but for me it was money I was happy to spend for a little convenience, and so far the “false positives” haven’t happened often enough to bother me, especially since I’m not having to log into my MacBook Pro all day long.

Airlock licenses are US$7.77 which allows you to use Airlock on up to three Macs. As mentioned above, you can download and test it for free for up to three hours per launch.

TUAWAirlock automatically locks and unlocks your Mac using your iPhone or iPod touch originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 15 Dec 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Beta Beat: Droplr adds to the quick-share repertoire

Filed under: Software, Beta Beat

One of my favorite features in OS X is the ability to drag pretty much anything, drop it on pretty much anything else, and have the item be contextually useful in some other application. So pervasive is this gesture that we even waxed romantically about it some time ago. An example of this would be dragging an image from Safari onto an iChat window, allowing you to share the image with one of your buddies.

Enter Droplr. This tiny application sits in your menu bar and allows you to drop all manner of files onto it and share them via a variety of venues such as Twitter or email. The tagline “drag, drop, share” is about as accurate as one can get when referring to Droplr’s simplicity in file-sharing. If you’re intrigued, head on over to the Droplr homepage and peep the screencast they have made available.

The Snow Leopard-only app and hosting service is available now for free (as in ad-supported) with 1GB storage. Don’t be surprised to see a for-pay option with no ads and additional storage in the near future. Go check it out and let us know in the comments how it works out for you.

TUAWBeta Beat: Droplr adds to the quick-share repertoire originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The great iPhone death watch

What critics were saying about Steve Jobs' smartphone in the months before it launched

Microsoft's Steve Ballmer. Click to play.

Three years ago, when it became clear that Apple (AAPL) was about to unveil some kind of mobile phone, critics began to weigh in on its chances of success. AAPLinvestors' Terry Gregory, building on a list of skeptical quotes begun by MacDailyNews, has put together what may be the definitive collection.

A sample:

“We’ve learned and struggled for a few years here figuring out how to make a decent phone. PC guys are not going to just figure this out. They’re not going to just walk in.”
Palm CEO Ed Colligan, commenting on then-rumored Apple iPhone, 16 Nov 2006

“Apple is slated to come out with a new phone… And it will largely fail."
Michael Kanellos, CNET, 7 December 2006

"The only question remaining is if, when the iPod phone fails, it will take the iPod with it.”
Bill Ray, The Register, 26 December 2006

"Apple will likely have a tough time convincing application vendors to build specialized clients for the iPhone until the volumes are there, and the volumes could be limited by the lack of third-party applications – a Catch 22.”
Jack Gold, J. Gold Associates, 10 January 2007

“The iPhone is nothing more than a luxury bauble that will appeal to a few gadget freaks."
Matthew Lynn, Bloomberg, 15 January 2007

"Five hundred dollars? Fully subsidized, with a plan? It is the most expensive phone in the world and it doesn’t appeal to business customers because it doesn’t have a keyboard which makes it not a very good email machine… So, I, I kinda look at that and I say, well, I like our strategy. I like it a lot.”
Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO, 17 January 2007

I am not sure how it will stand against Sprint’s Wimax (when it successfully launches) and its phones, which I am looking forward much more than over-hyped Apple iPhone.”
Bhaskar Chitraju, Indews Broadcast, 18 January 2007

"iPhone may well become Apple’s next Newton.”
David Haskin, Computerworld, 26 February 2007

“Apple should pull the plug on the iPhone… What Apple risks here is its reputation as a hot company that can do no wrong. If it’s smart it will call the iPhone a ‘reference design’ and pass it to some suckers to build with someone else’s marketing budget. Then it can wash its hands of any marketplace failures… Otherwise I’d advise people to cover their eyes. You are not going to like what you’ll see.”
John C. Dvorak, 28 March 2007

“There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance. It’s a $500 subsidized item. They may make a lot of money. But if you actually take a look at the 1.3 billion phones that get sold, I’d prefer to have our software in 60% or 70% or 80% of them, than I would to have 2% or 3%, which is what Apple might get.”
Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO, 30 April 2007

“How do they deal with us?”
Ed Zander, Motorola CEO/Chairman 10 May 2007

“Apple begins selling its revolutionary iPhone this summer and it will mark the end of the string of hits for the company.”
Todd Sullivan, Seeking Alpha, 15 May 2007

"What does the iPhone offer that other cell phones do not already offer, or will offer soon? The answer is not very much… Apple’s stated goal of selling 10 million iPhones by the end of 2008 seems ambitious.”
Laura Goldman, LSG Capital, 21 May 2007

“We Predict the iPhone will bomb. Which means that when the iPhone comes, Digg will likely be full of horror stories from the poor saps who camped out at their local AT&T store, only to find their purchase was buggier than a camp cabin.”
Seth Porges, The Futurist, 7 June 2007

“The forthcoming (June 29) release of the Apple iPhone is going to be a bigger marketing flop than Ishtar and Waterworld combined. Because its designers forgot Platt’s First, Last, and Only Law of User Experience Design (“Know Thy User, for He Is Not Thee”), that product is going to crash in flames. Sell your Apple stock now, while the hype’s still hot. You heard it here first.”
David S. Platt, Suckbusters!, 21 June 2007

“God himself could not design a device that could live up to all the hype that the iPhone has gotten.”
Harvard computer science professor David Platt, 25 June 2007

More than 33 million iPhones, 100,000 apps and 2 billion downloads later, the death watch continues. To see AAPLinvestors' full collection — including comparisons to such "iPhone killers" as the Palm (PALM) Pre, Research in Motion's (RIMM) BlackBerry Storm and Motorola's (MOT) Droid — click here.

[Follow Philip Elmer-DeWitt on Twitter @philiped]

Boxee goes beta

Filed under: Multimedia, Music

After what has seemingly been a never-ending “alpha” period for the famous XBMC fork, Boxee, tonight the Boxee crew have finally (as expected) unveiled the first beta release of Boxee.

For starters, they have totally revamped the user interface especially surrounding the home screen. Up top are the usual suspects movies, TV shows, music, etc. On the far left is the news feed which aggregates content recommendations from friends on Boxee, Facebook and of course Twitter. Proudly, in the middle, is the “featured” section which contains recommendations from Boxee staff and associated partners (read: this is where money is made). And on the right is a list of items in your queue, but more on that in a moment.

Read on for the TUAW overview of the Boxee pre-release beta.

Continue reading Boxee goes beta

TUAWBoxee goes beta originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 07 Dec 2009 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google Chrome for Mac goes beta!

73,804 lines of Mac-specific code and 29 developer builds later, we’re excited to finally release Google Chrome for Mac in beta. We took a hefty dose of goodness from the Windows version to build a fast, polished browser for Mac — with features such as the Omnibox (where you can both search and type in addresses), themes from artists, and most importantly, speed. Try downloading Google Chrome for Mac and see what you think.

We also took great care to make Google Chrome a native application for Mac. For example, we integrated the Keychain into Google Chrome for Mac, and incorporated Mac-style animations when you open the Bookmarks bar.

For more details on today’s beta release of Google Chrome for Mac, check out the video below.

To our early users who tried the weekly developer channel builds and provided excellent feedback, we thank you. In bringing the Mac version of Google Chrome from its developer stages to a beta standard, we returned to the core principles of the Chromium project and focused on delivering rock-solid depth in a few critical areas for the browser, rather than a breadth of features that are rough around the edges. This first beta release for Mac does not yet incorporate extensions, bookmark sync, bookmark manager, and cookie manager. However, we focused on features such as sandboxing our renderer process to help provide a safer web experience for our users. We look forward to future releases of Google Chrome for Mac, which will fill in the gaps and provide a fast, clean browser for your enjoyment on Mac OS X.

Can’t wait for more info? Read our frequently-updated detailed status, or keep an eye on some Mac-specific sections of the source code. Don’t forget to give Google Chrome for Mac a try, and let us know what you think.

Google Chrome for Mac, on the New Tab page

Google Chrome for Mac, with an artist theme

Posted by John Grabowski and Mike Pinkerton, Software Engineers, Google Chrome

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TUAW Holiday Gift Guide: Displays

Filed under: Accessories, Peripherals, iMac

A display, whether it’s a primary, extra display for a portable, or a desktop secondary, is something that’s very useful, and makes a great gift. Here’s a few gift ideas for displays to use with your Mac.

Dell ST2210

This display offers a 1920×1080 resolution, a 21.5 inch viewing area, and is available for only $189. It has a DVI and VGA port, which means that you might need an adapter to connect it. There’s also a 24 inch model of this display, the Dell ST2410, if you’re looking for something a little bit bigger.

Samsung XL2370

If you’re wanting another option, there’s the Samsung XL2370. It’s LED backlit, like the Apple LED Cinema Display, and can be purchased for around $399. It has a display resolution of 1920×1080, and it features a DVI and HDMI port, so you’ll need an adapter to hook it up to a Mac with a Mini-DVI or Mini DisplayPort.

Apple LED Cinema Display

The Apple LED Cinema Display offers unique features that make it easy to connect to a Mac, like the MagSafe connector that charges a MacBook. The display is measured at 24 inches, and can display a 1900×1200 resolution. It also features a built-in iSight camera, a mic, speakers, and a three-port USB hub. You can purchase it for $899, though refurbished models have shown up for $599 from Apple.

27 inch iMac

The 27-inch iMac, can be used in Target Display Mode as a monitor for another Mac with a Mini DisplayPort. It offers a resolution of 2560×1440 pixels, and it’s LED backlit. You’ll just need a cable to do so, and you can purchase a Mini DisplayPort to Mini DisplayPort cable from Apple or Monoprice. Of course, the iMac is a computer, so we aren’t suggesting using it primarily as an external display.

Do you have any suggestions for displays? Leave a comment and let us know!

TUAWTUAW Holiday Gift Guide: Displays originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 07 Dec 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Beta Beat: Google Chrome beta for Mac available

Filed under: Software, Internet Tools, Beta Beat

Earlier today Google released a beta of their Chrome browser for the Mac, nearly 14 months after the Windows version. Chrome is built on the WebKit engine, just like Safari. I’ve only used it briefly (I’m writing this post with it now), yet a couple of things are immediately apparent.

First is the lack of a search box. Instead, Google has built the “Omnibox,” which combines the search and address field. Begin typing and a list of results appears beneath the text field, including recent browsing history, search options and more. For a complete view, browse all of the results in a new tab. That’s neat, but it’ll take some getting used to.

When first launched, it offered to import my Safari bookmarks; a task it completed so quickly I thought there was an error. Tabs slide in and out of view and are smart enough (supposedly, I haven’t tested this) to isolate crashes and keep them from bringing the whole browser down.

Give it a try, but remember that it’s a beta. Leave your mission-critical tasks to the tried and true.

TUAWBeta Beat: Google Chrome beta for Mac available originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Speed up your browsing by using Google's Public DNS

By default most of us use our ISP’s DNS to resolve web addresses into IP numbers. Google came up with a Public DNS system, which is is supposedly faster (and perhaps safer) than using the ISP’s DNS. If you want to test it on your Mac it’s really easy to set it up.

1. From the Apple menu, click System Preferences, then click Network. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
2. Select the connection for which you want to configure Google Public DNS. For example: To change the settings for an Ethernet connection, select Built-In Ethernet, and click Advanced. To change the settings for a wireless connection, select Airport, and click Advanced.
3. Select the DNS tab.
4. Click + to replace any listed addresses with, or add, the Google IP addresses at the top of the list: 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4.
5. Click Apply and OK.

Google isn’t first with the idea for a faster public DNS. I’ve been using OpenDNS for years, which is a really nifty service offering many features.

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Mac 101: Building a bootable diagnostic and repair flash drive

Filed under: Troubleshooting, Mac 101

More Mac 101, our tips and tricks for novice Mac users.

Update: You cannot install Snow Leopard on an 8 GB flash drive. I was incorrect in writing that an install of Essential System Software would take 3.81 GB. As a few of our commenters pointed out, and is the case, in testing I erroneously tried to install Snow Leopard on a flash drive that already had a version of OSX on it, making the installation much smaller than installing on an empty flash drive. According to readers,installing Snow Leopard on an empty flash drive will take 8.01 GB requiring a 16 GB flash drive. I’m very sorry for any inconvenience this has caused.

It’s a good idea to have a strategy in place in case of emergencies. If your hard drive tosses you errors, behaves badly or doesn’t even appear, what to do? If programs crash at random, you need to be ready. You can prepare for this by creating a bootable flash drive containing some diagnostic and repair utilities.

This is not meant to replace or in any way affect backing up your hard drive. Time Machine makes it so easy that not having a backup plan is just silly… but so much for the disclaimer.

To make a diagnostic and repair flash drive, I’d suggest buying an 8 GB flash drive, 16 GB flash drive which can be had for around US $20 US $35 these days. When you get it, it probably won’t be formatted for your Macintosh, so plug it in and run Disk Utility (in /Applications/Utilities) to format the flash drive. In doing so, you have a number of choices. With your flash drive highlighted click on Erase and choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and give the flash drive a name. Then click on Erase on the bottom right side of the screen and in a few seconds your flash drive will be ready for an operating system.

I inadvertently omitted a step! Click the icon for the drive (not the disk partition — the one that includes the size) and click the Partition tab. Choose “1 Partition” from the pop-up menu, Mac OS Extended on the right, then click Options at the bottom of the screen and make sure “GUID” is the selected partition type. Thanks to everyone who pointed this out.

At this point do the Erase as mentioned above which should look like the following screen shot.

Continue reading Mac 101: Building a bootable diagnostic and repair flash drive

TUAWMac 101: Building a bootable diagnostic and repair flash drive originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 02 Dec 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple updates Java for Snow Leopard and Leopard

Filed under: Software Update

TUAWApple updates Java for Snow Leopard and Leopard originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 03 Dec 2009 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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