Create playlists in iTunes for all complete albums
User Aphex5 posted an interesting question on Stack Exchange, asking if there was a way to create playlists for all complete albums in his iTunes library. He then followed up with an answer, the following AppleScript: -- Creates a playlist for each full album you have in iTunes -- Set the playlistPrefix and playlistSuffix as desired before running -- Based on code by Brad Campbell -- http://www.bradcampbell.com/20... tell application "iTunes" set playlistPrefix to "FA: " set playlistSuffix to "" -- The "FA: " prefix will help cluster full albums in iTunes' playlists, -- and is narrow enough to not get in your way w ...
published on Monday, the 11. February 2013, macosxhints
Apple Releases iOS 6.1 with New LTE Carriers and Fandango Siri Integration
Following this weekend's release of iOS 6.1 Beta 5 to developers, Apple has just released iOS 6.1 to the public. The update includes new LTE carrier support and Siri-based movie ticket purchases via Fandango, as well as iTunes Match individual song downloading and a new reset button for advertising tracking.This update contains improvements and bug fixes, including: - LTE support for more carriers (complete list of supported carriers at www.apple.com/iphone/LTE/) - Purchase movie tickets through Fandango with Siri (USA only) - iTunes Match subscribers can now download individual songs from iCloud - New button to reset the Advertising Identifier?iOS 6 is the world?s most advanced mobile operating system, and with nearly 300 million iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices on iOS 6 in just five months, it may be the most popular new version of an OS in history,? said Philip Schiller, Apple?s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. ?iOS 6.1 brings LTE support to more markets around the world, so even more users can enjoy ultrafast Safari browsing, FaceTime video calls, iCloud services, and iTunes and App Store downloads.?New LTE carriers for iPhone 5 supported in the update include: - USA: Alaska Communications, Alaska GCI, Bluegrass Cellular, C Spire, Cellcom, Pioneer Cellular - Canada: MTS, Sasktel - Puerto Rico: Claro, Open Mobile - Croatia: T-Mobile, VIPNet - Denmark: 3, Telenor, Telia - Finland: DNA, Elisa, Sonera - Greece: Cosmote - Hungary: T-Mobile - Italy: 3, TIM, Vodafone - Kuwait: Zain - Luxembourg: Tango - Philippines: Globe, SMART - Portugal: Optimus, TMN, Vodafone - Saudi Arabia: Mobily, Zain - South Africa: Vodacom - Switzerland: Swisscom - UAE: DU, Etisalat However, as Jeremy Horwitz of iLounge points out, the new LTE carriers are only supported by the 4th-generation iPad, the iPad mini, and the iPhone 5. Third-generation iPads do not support any of the new carriers. Recent Mac and iOS Blog Stories • 'Premeditated Flash Dump' of Apple Shares Behind Friday's Last-Second Slump, Says Trader • Fully Functional MAME Emulator Appears in App Store • iPad Mini Ship Times Drop to 3-5 Days on US, Canada, Australia, China, Hong Kong Apple Online Stores • Best Buy Offers $200 off MacBook Airs For 2 Days • Valve's Original Half-Life Now Available on Steam for Mac • Apple Relocating Tokyo HQ to Roppongi Hills • Google Overhauls 'Currents' for iOS • Analysts Share in Blame for Apple's Stock Drop, Says Fortune
published on Monday, the 28. January 2013, macrumors
Amazon Optimizes MP3 Store for Mobile Safari to Attract iOS Device Users
Amazon today announced that it has optimized its MP3 music store for Safari on iOS devices, marking yet another step in the company's effort to eat into the iTunes Store's dominant position in the digital music market.?Since the launch of the Amazon Cloud Player app for iPhone and iPod touch, a top request from customers has been the ability to buy music from Amazon right from their devices. For the first time ever, iOS users have a way do that ? now they can access Amazon?s huge catalog of music, features like personalized recommendations, deals like albums for $5, songs for $0.69, and they can buy their music once and use it everywhere,? said Steve Boom, Vice President of Amazon Music. Features of the Amazon MP3 store on the mobile web browser include: - The Amazon MP3 mobile website for iPhone and iPod touches is built on HTML5, which means customers can make purchases directly from the Amazon MP3 mobile website at www.amazon.com/mp3 on their iPhones and iPod touches - Selection of over 22 million songs and over two million albums at everyday low prices - Access to everyday deals like $5 albums, $0.69 songs, and free songs from artists on the rise - Individualized recommendations based on purchase history - Immediate availability and seamless playback of purchases in the Amazon Cloud Player app - Free storage of all Amazon MP3 purchases in Amazon Cloud PlayerAmazon's move to optimize its MP3 store for iOS devices comes over five years after the store debuted, but seems to be part of a renewed effort by Amazon to challenge the iTunes Store. The company has invested significantly in its Cloud Player services as a competitor to iTunes Match, and Amazon has just launched its new AutoRip feature to provide free digital versions of tracks purchased on CD, including for many orders dating as far back as 1998. Recent Mac and iOS Blog Stories • 'Temple Run 2' Hits the App Store • Apple Adds Credit Options for Chinese Buyers • Apple Seeds Build 12D54 of OS X 10.8.3 to Developers • iPhone 5 Cutbacks Simply Due to Initial Shipment Rate Being Too Large to Maintain? • New York Times Columnist Goes Undercover, Secretly Creates Best-Selling App
published on Thursday, the 17. January 2013, macrumors
Walmart and Straight Talk Wireless Now Carrying iPhone 5
Walmart and Straight Talk Wireless are now carrying the iPhone 5, offering a $45 unlimited talk, text and data plan with no contract. It was previously reported by That's It Guys. Straight Talk is a subsidiary of TracFone, and its iPhone customers will use AT&T's network. There is no indication of whether the phones will support AT&T's LTE network or not. Like other prepaid plans such as Virgin Mobile, users must pay full price for their iPhones without having them subsidized by the carrier. Unlike Virgin Mobile, Walmart is offering holders of the Walmart credit card a no-interest fixed payment plan for $25/month. This allows customers to have a unlimited talk, text and data plan for a total of $70/month before taxes and fees. Walmart and Straight Talk Wireless, America?s largest and top rated no-contract cell phone provider, today put the power back in the hands of customers with an industry game changing offer. Starting on January 11, 2013 in more than 2,000 Walmart stores and online at Walmart.com, customers now have access to the iPhone 5 and iPhone 4 on Straight Talk?s $45 no contract unlimited talk, text and data plan. To make this offer even more affordable, Walmart will be offering customers who purchase the phone in the store, a no interest fixed-monthly payments special financing offer for only $25 a month with a Walmart Credit Card. The Straight Talk wireless no contract plan, exclusive to Walmart, saves consumers on average $950 a year when they switch from conventional contract plans with similar unlimited plans. To learn more about how Straight Talk Wireless saves consumers $950 a year, please visit: www.?straighttalk.com.The iPhone 5 is available in black or white for $649 for the 16GB model only, and the iPhone 4 is available in black or white for $449 for the 8GB model. Recent Mac and iOS Blog Stories • Apple Seeds Build 12D50 of OS X Beta 10.8.3 to Developers • Otterbox Announces Waterproof "Armor Series' iPhone Cases • CES 2013: Hipkey - a 'Bluetooth Smart' Proximity Sensor for iOS Devices • CES 2013: Scosche Introduces Weatherproof BoomBOTTLE Speaker For Cyclists and Outdoor Enthusiasts • iPhone5mod Launches Translucent Mod Kit in Seven Colors for iPhone 5
published on Tuesday, the 8. January 2013, macrumors
Briefly: Lantronix iOS printing, Klisto Database for iOS
Lantronix announced today the release of an Office Edition of its xPrintServer printing solution for iPads and iPhones. The new product enables printing directly from the native print menu of a device to a range of network-connected or USB printers without the need to download further apps or install software. It is available for pre-order now at www.Lantronix.com, and units will begin shipping on November 21, 2012....
published on Monday, the 12. November 2012, macintosh-news-network
Safari 6 ".com" shortcut
Before Safari 6, you could navigate to a URL with having to type ".com". The same can be done in Safari 6 with one extra keystroke. Entering "apple" in the location bar of Safari 6 will yield you Google search results for those terms. However, including a trailing slash will cause Safari to add the .com TLD to a logical location in the address, and take you to that URL. So, "apple/" will take you to apple.com. [kirkmc adds: This is fine, if you're trying to get to .com sites. If you're in a country and want to get to local sites, it won't help you. It's worth noting that you can enter any number of slashes and still get this to work.] Update: As per a comment below, here's how to make it work when you type a /. For example, if you type "apple/ipod/" Safari will go to www.apple.com/ipod, if you do the following. Go to System Preferences > Network, click on Advanced, then DNS. In the Search Domains section, click on + and add .com. Click on ...
published on Tuesday, the 25. September 2012, macosxhints
Search the iTunes Store and Mac App Store from a browser
Following yesterday's hint about dragging Mac App Store and iTunes Store icons to web browser for easier browsing, I realized that we don't have a hint about using Google to search for content in the iTunes Store or the Mac App Store. Since Apple provides all this content on the web, it's easy. Search as follows: search_terms site:itunes.apple.com. For example, Einstein on the Beach site:itunes.apple.com. You'll get a number of hits, for the different countries where the iTunes Store or Mac App Store are available. If you want to limit the search to a specific country, you can do so like this: Einstein on the Beach site:itunes.apple.com/us/, where the two letters between the slashes are the code for the country where you're searching. I have a LaunchBar search template set up as follows: http://www.google.com/search?q...*%20site:itunes.apple.com. You can ...
published on Tuesday, the 18. September 2012, macosxhints
Apple Unveils New iTunes
Apple today announced the new iTunes for Mac and PC, featuring a redesigned player, seamless integration with iCloud, and a new look for the world?s most popular online music, apps, TV, and movie stores. The new iTunes features a simpler, cleaner interface that keeps your favorite iTunes content at the forefront. With iCloud integration, music, movie, and TV purchases made on any of your iOS devices or computers is displayed in your iTunes library on your Mac or PC, ready to play, anytime. And the redesigned iTunes Store, App Store, and iBookstore make buying your favorite content on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, or PC simpler than ever. The new iTunes will be available in October as a free download at www.itunes.com.
published on Wednesday, the 12. September 2012, apple-hot-news
Apple's OS X Mountain Lion Up-to-Date Application Goes Live Ahead of Public Launch [Updated]
Alongside other OS X Mountain Lion announcements at its Worldwide Developers Conference last month, Apple announced an Up-to-Date program allowing any customer purchasing a Mac on or after June 11 to receive a free upgrade to OS X Mountain Lion once the operating system is released to the public. With OS X Mountain Lion being released only via the Mac App Store, the free upgrade is being delivered a redemption code for the store. While the company has yet to officially announce it and almost certainly will not do so until OS X Mountain Lion itself actually launches, the company's Up-to-Date online application form is already live. Users are required to enter their date and location of purchase for the qualifying Mac, fill out personal contact information, and enter the serial numbers of machines eligible for the free upgrade to OS X Mountain Lion. Once all information has been submitted, Apple generates a reference number for the claim and the actual redemption code is delivered via email. In our testing, the redemption code arrived as a password-protected PDF attachment within seconds of submitting the online form, with a second email containing a password for opening the PDF arriving at the same time.Dear Apple Customer, Thank you for participating in the OS X Mountain Lion Up-To-Date program. The content code that allows you to download and install OS X Mountain Lion from the Mac App Store is in the file attached below. You will receive the password to unlock the attached files in a separate email. Your content code may be redeemed immediately through the Mac App Store and will not expire. Please follow these steps to redeem your copy of OS X Mountain Lion: 1. Open the Mac App Store application. 2. Select ?Redeem? in the Quick Links section of the Mac App Store. 3. Enter your content code. If you have questions regarding the redemption or installation of your software from the Mac App Store, visit www.apple.com/support/mac/app-store/. To redeem your content code you need the latest version of the Mac App Store application, an Apple ID, and Internet access (fees may apply). You can create an Apple ID at appleid.apple.com/us. As a reminder, content codes may not be resold and can only be redeemed by people above the minimum age specified by the terms and conditions of the Mac App Store in your country. Apple is not responsible for lost or stolen content codes. You may review the Terms of Service for the Mac App Store at www.apple.com/legal/itunes/ww/. Thank you for choosing Apple! Attempting to redeem the OS X Mountain Lion code in the Mac App Store does not yet provide access to the update, however, as it has yet to go live in the store. Entering the code simply yields an error noting that it is "not recognized as a valid code". OS X Mountain Lion will be released later this month, with hints suggesting that it could arrive this Wednesday, July 25. (Thanks, Justin!) Update 10:12 AM: Apple appears to have taken the Up-to-Date application offline. Recent Mac and iOS Blog Stories • Proview Sued for $2.4 Million by Own Lawyers in iPad Trademark Case • Apple's New Barcelona Retail Store Opens July 28 • Drobo Releases Pricing for Thunderbolt Storage Devices, Preorders Start Monday • Other World Computing Releases Aftermarket SSD Upgrades for 2012 MacBook Air • iTunes Match Goes Live in Hungary and Poland
published on Monday, the 23. July 2012, macrumors
Back up blog or FTP directory with AppleScript
All those many different WordPress plugins to back up my blog looked too daunting to me, so I decided to create my own simple Mac-native solution using AppleScript. This AppleScript does the following: Simulates a double-click on the alias to my web server (where my WordPress blog lives) to mount it as a WebDAV volume (just like iDisk) Runs the handy Unix backup command rsync to copy the remote contents locally Unmounts my web server I then set up a daily iCal event to run the script at 4 a.m. Since I already have CrashPlan backing up my hard drive, that takes care of archiving periodic versions of the backup, just in case. Here's the script: set filepath to "Macintosh HD:Users:USERNAME:Library:Favorites:www.example.com" tell application "Finder" to open filepath delay 30 do shell script "rsync -av /Volumes/www.example.com/blog/ '/Volumes/Backup/wordpress-backup'" tell application "Finder" to eject "www.example.com" ...
published on Wednesday, the 25. April 2012, macosxhints