At first I didn’t think that I was going to write a review of my Pebble. Then, I realized that my perspective is probably different than most, so I changed my mind and decided to jot down 10 things to know about the Pebble. Before I get into that though, I’m one of those weird people that still wears a watch. Yes, I know, how very dated I must look. But hey, I really don’t care so I keep wearing it. Therefore, a different device on that wrist really doesn’t move the needle, it’s just a device that isn’t the other one that I wore for 20 years… I have…
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Apperian's New Goodness: Remote Control for iPad
- iPhone, Mac OS X, Mac OS X Server, Mac Security, Mass Deployment, Microsoft Exchange Server, Network Infrastructure
Configuring & Using Profile Manager 2 in OS X Mountain Lion Server
Profile Manager first appeared in OS X Lion Server as the Apple-provided tool for managing Apple devices, including Mobile Device Management (MDM) for iOS based devices as well as Profile management for OS X based computers, including MacBooks, MacBook Airs, Mac Minis, Mac Pros and iMacs running Mac OS X 10.7 and up. In OS X Mountain Lion, Apple has added a number of new features to Profile Manager, most notably the ability to push certain types of apps to mobile devices. In this article, we’re going to look at setting up Profile Manager from scratch. If you’re upgrading to OS X Mountain Lion Server (10.8 Server) from OS X…
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Cryptix: Encryption Made Easy
Cryptix is a nice little app available on the App Store that allows you to encrypt and decrypt files using a variety of algorithms. However, while an easy to use encryption tool, it’s actually an even better learning tool for figuring out how various types of encryption techniques actually work. When you first open Cryptix, you’ll see a list of supported algorithms for encrypting files and passphrases. That part is simple enough, but click on the Tools icon in the toolbar. Here, you’ll see a number of features along the sidebar, including Checksum, which performs a quick checksum of files dragged on top of the green arrow and tracks hashes,…
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The App Store Element Inspector
I had been trying to work on a command line interface for the App Store for awhile. I learned a lot while doing so, but was never actually able to do more than associate AppleIDs here and there. One of the things I was able to use during my attempts (other than a disassembler) was the Element Inspector for the App Store. The Element Inspector allows you to view the raw source code of the pages being displayed in the App Store. This thing could be pretty handy if you were interested in embedding aspects of the App Store in other items, such as apps or a command line tool…
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Big Changes in Lion Server
OK, by now I’m sure everyone has heard that OS X Server is a download off the App Store. For a whoppin’ $50 you get the OS that was once called “Open Source Made Easy” until someone at Apple realized that GPLv3 might mean that Open Source doesn’t always mean “free as in beer”. Wait, did I say that out loud? Point is, there are bigger changes here than just moving the server to the App Store. There are also some pretty big changes to the GUI of OS X Server. The first and most obvious is the LoginWindow, which is different in OS X in general. It obviously looks…
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The Mac OS X App Store & Managed Environments
The Mac OS X App Store was released earlier this month as a part of the Mac OS X 10.6.6 update. The App Store, with over 1,000 applications (including a couple of server tools), allowing people to download and install applications on Mac OS X computers without needing to understand how to click through the screens of a standard package installer, drag applications from disk images into the /Applications folder or basically how to do practically anything except for click and provide a valid credit card number. As with the App Store that debuted with the iPhone, the App Store for Mac OS X is clearly aimed at residential customers,…
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AutoCAD and the Mac
Apple computers and AutoCAD once worked together in a harmonious land known now as 1990. Yes, grunge was on the way in, NES was already in, big hair on the way out and architects across the land embraced and loved their Apple computers. Then, AutoCAD 13 (the unluckiest of numbers) was released and suddenly, in 1992 there was no more AutoCAD. I sadly never knew AutoCAD for the Mac in my professional life. But I’ve heard the tales, sung by Bards (some named Bard) across the land. And the tales are sweet, sung with love and heroism and everything you could want out of the marriage of two great products.…
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Keynote & iPhone
For those that have not yet used it, the App Store has a little application called Keynote Remote, which can be used to control a slide deck that you’re going through. Once you’ve installed the application on your iPhone simply open it and click on the New Keynote Link… dialog (also in the Settings pane of the app on the iPhone). You’ll see a Passcode. Open Keynote, from the Keynote menu, click Properties, then click on the Remote icon in the Keynote Preferences toolbar. Then click on the check box to Enable iPhone and iPod touch Remotes, click on the remote you will be pairing to your Keynote installation and…
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iTunes App Store: Books
According to a recent O’Reilly Radar report, the fastest growing category on the iTunes App store is books. Some of these are full blown books at full cost. Others are $.99 or even free. This is an interesting potential source of being able to self-publish quickly on micro-topics. For example, a miniature 20 page book on how to do something very specific, sold on the App store for $.99 might be worth the cost to certain people. Like any other app, it might even take off and be uber-popular. On the same token, as an advertising ploy a free book might take off and garner a lot of attention. No…