Apple news blog

Apple reports over 10 million applications downloaded from the AppStore in its first weekend, according to a press release issued by the company today. There may be discord brewing between the company and developers of the applications …

If it seems prices of the latest iPod and iPhone accessories are rising, you may have Apple’s licensing department to thank, according to a story in Popular Mechanics. Though the company is typically reticent to discuss the details of …

Feeling conned by the promised “push” technology of MobileMe, specifically when making changes on your Mac, only to find out that it will not push, but instead, sync at 15-minute (60 minutes in 10.4.11) intervals? I found the .plist file that controls the “Automatic” sync interval for MobileMe, and changed it from 15 minutes to 1 minute. The file is located in ~/Library » Preferences » ByHost » com.apple.DotMacSync.your_MAC_address.plist.

Open this file in Property List Editor, find the AutoSyncInterval key, and then set it to the number of minutes after which you want it to sync with the server. I have it set to 1 right now, and it syncs every minute which is good enough for me at the moment. Hopefully this will be of value to anyone who needs something more immediate than a 15-minute sync, and doesn’t want to bother with Manual sync.

[robg adds: I was disappointed to read that the 15-minute sync from a Mac to MobileMe/iPhone …

If you do a lot of downloading via scp and occasionally find yourself restarting a download that failed due to a closed connection, here’s an alias that can help. Add the following to your user’s ~/.profile file to create a “resumable scp downloading command:

alias scpresume="rsync --partial --progress --rsh=ssh"

This command uses rsync, and sets options for resumable transfers (–partial), displaying a progress bar (–progress), and insures that the transfer will be made using secure shell (-rsh=ssh). To use the command, open a new shell after saving your modified .profile file, and then type scpresume in place of scp in your normal transfer command.

[robg adds: I added detail to the original hint submission, so I apologize if I got some of the details on the rsync options incorrect.]

If you find yourself switching Spaces frequently and use a laptop with multi-touch capability, you can use MultiClutch to map gestures to Spaces commands.

First (and the order is important) disable any keyboard shortcuts you use for Spaces. Then go into MultiClutch and add (in the Global application) Swipe gestures to the key commands you want for Spaces up/down/left/right. Finally, set those key commands in the Exposé and Spaces pane. This lets you “sweep away” your old space with a single gesture (no finger juggling), kind of Minority Report-style.

One caveat: although this overrides most applications’ built-in three-finger gestures, it doesn’t override the Finder’s back/forward support, so you get stuck sometimes when a Finder window is in the foreground. Just choose another app, and you’re on your way.

The macosxhints Rating:

[Score: 9 out of 10]

• Developer: Apple / Product page
• Price: Varies

This week’s Pick of the Week is somewhat unusual, but I think highly deserving. Instead of picking any one product, I’ve chosen to give the selection to Apple’s new iPhone/iPod touch App Store. After using the App Store quite a bit over the last few days, I believe it truly is a paradigm-changer for the mobile applications business — much as the original iTunes Music Store was when it opened years ago.

Prior to my iPhone, I owned and used a Palm Treo. One of my frustrations with the Treo was finding and installing software for it. Although there’s a huge universe of programs for the Treo,…

Apple CEO Steve Jobs pronounced the iPhone 3G’s worldwide reception “stunning,” according to AppleInsider. Noting the 1 million phones sold in its “opening weekend” (as the lines between commerce and entertainment grow ever more …

That attitude usually gets reflected in Apple news as little gets announced in the way of Mac news. I feel the pain of those frustrated users that want to hear about Macs more than iPods and iPhones. Don’t worry, we’re just as …

Despite long lines and activation troubles, Apple announced today that they sold its one millionth iPhone 3G on Sunday, only three days after its initial launch on Friday, July 11th. In the press release, Steve Job points out that it took 74 days to…

That attitude usually gets reflected in Apple news as little gets announced in the way of Mac news. I feel the pain of those frustrated users that want to hear about Macs more than iPods and iPhones. Don’t worry, we’re just as …