Apple news blog

unmarked software today announces the release and immediate availability of TextSoap 6.2.2, an update to its text processing utility for Mac OS X. The TextSoap 6.2.2 update is a maintenance release that fixes a number of reported issues and adds support for using Services on rich text with images. Take total control of text and its style. With a single menu selection TextSoap 6 brings unique processing power to users from within their favorite application.

Xeric Design today is pleased to announce EarthDesk 5.0, a major upgrade to its award-winning, real-time dynamic desktop map for OS X. Version 5.0 has been entirely rewritten in Cocoa, adds many new features and is fully compatible with both Leopard and the upcoming Snow Leopard. EarthDesk replaces your static desktop with an image of the Earth showing current sun, moon and city illumination, as well as real-time global cloud coverage, allowing you to track hurricanes and other weather systems.

Bloomberg has received confirmation from Apple that Steve Jobs has returned to work at Apple following his liver transplant, currently working part-time at the company’s headquarters in Cupertino and part-time from home. Jobs reportedly returned to …

Late last week, we reported that Apple had posted an online availability database showing iPhone 3GS stock levels at each of its over 200 U.S. retail stores. At the time, the database showed solid availability of the new iPhone, with nearly 90% of st…

Reuters reports that ten top mobile phone manufacturers, including Apple, have agreed to adopt the Micro-USB connector standard for smartphone chargers in the European Union. The shift, planned to begin next year, will allow smartphones from the com…

eCOMPOSITE today released 321Run Lite 1.0, a free version of their health based running app for iPhone and iPod touch. 321Run Lite is the free version made for users of 321Run, a GPS-enabled version that also records the distance, calories and tells you and your friends what distance you ran. 321Run Lite is your coach on our iPhone. Plug your earphones and listen to it tell you when to change rythm, and how long you’ve run.

In February, this hint explainted how to install vpnc as a replacement for the Cisco VPN client. I finally got it working with a little tweaking and divergence from the original instructions, based in part on follow-up comments.

But what I really wanted was to have my VPN as easy (or easier) to activate than using the (otherwise awful) Cisco application: largely because I use my company’s VPN in conjunction with 3G mobile broadband, which has a habit of dropping connection when my commuter train goes through a tunnel, requiring regular reconnection!

I tried using Shimo and vpntool with no success, and finally got it working using the following solution…

1. Install vpnc using Fink (as per earlshango’s suggestion in the original comments). You need to add the ‘unstable’ repository when you configure Fink, since vpnc is…

   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Yes, I know, if you use haxies you get what you deserve. But to this day, Spotlight, enhanced custom keystrokes and all, and in spite of my overall hatred for the mouse versus a good keystroke combo, there are just a ton of things I find easier to do with a right-click and Contextual Menu action when I am in certain work (or leisure) modes, especially Web research and just plain surfing. But the price is getting higher.

Summary of this hint: I was having a spinning beacbhall hang issue in Safari. After some work, I figured out that it was caused by FruitMenu’s contextual menu support. Temporarily disabling the contextual menu support — without quitting or logging out — instantly ended the Safari hang-up and I was able to start using it again without losing any work.

Read on if you’d like more background on the Safari problems I was having, and how I diagnosed and solved them…
Background: So since around 10.5.6, and the later versions of Safari 3, I started having f…

Recently, I noticed that whenever I right-clicked in any program, the beach ball would show up, and Force Quit would be my only option to close the offending app. After some digging, I figured out that the problem was with the DropBox contextual menu plug-in. I never use it so I just deleted it, but a later test showed that a reinstall also fixed the problem.

If you’d like to disable it on your system while troubleshooting contextual menu issues, you can find it here: ~/Library » Contextual Menu Items.

[robg adds: I've heard other reports of issues with the DropBox plug-in, so thought this might be worth sharing.]

ZiggySoft has announced iWeb Valet 2.2, the tool to enhance and upload iWeb pages. Use iWeb Valet to enhance your iWeb sites in many ways, and upload your website to the web. Now with a First Run Wizard, enhancements to the Dropdown menu widget, etc. As in Apple’s iWeb 09, iWeb Valet gives you the power to add new interactive widgets to your web pages.