Jay Hathaway
Seattle - http://jayhathaway.com
Download Squad blogger
Filed under: Productivity, Web services
Yast offers ridiculously easy time tracking on the web
If you want to keep track of your projects in real-time, you can click the play button next to a project to start working, and then click stop when you're done. Two clicks? Even easier than a click and drag! Yast color-codes your projects and keeps track of your total time spent on them, automatically. You can zoom the timeline in and out to make selecting the right timeframe easier. Other than that, Yast has no settings to speak of. If you need anything more elaborate, you'll have to look elsewhere. If you want a bare-bones time tracker that just works, Yast is it.
Filed under: Social Software, iPhone, Microblogging
Tweetdeck back in the iPhone app store with new features, fewer bugs
Twitter fanatics were disappointed when the hotly-anticipated update to Tweetdeck's iPhone app was pulled from the app store due to bugs, but it's available again today. The upgrade is a big one, including some of the most important features of the Tweetdeck desktop version. The biggest deal might be Facebook integration, a feature that keeps Tweetdeck competitive with its main desktop rival, Seesmic (which has Facebook support, but has yet to launch an iPhone app). In addition, Tweetdeck for iPhone now has video uploading via 12Seconds.tv, taking advantage of the video capabilities of the iPhone 3GS. It also uses the device's GPS for a "nearby" feature that lets you read tweets from folks in your vicinity. Although I take every opportunity to bash Twitter's trending topics, fans of that aspect of the service will now find it in Tweetdeck. One feature I won't bash, though, is the address picker, which lets you choose a contact from list so your @replies are without typos.
Combine all those features with details like a landscape keyboard mode and the ability to save drafts, and you've got a pretty solid version 1.1. If you've been using and enjoying Tweetdeck, this update should be some sweet icing on the cake.
Filed under: Mozilla, Browsers
Firefox 3.6 Beta 2 now ready for download, with 190 bug fixes
The second beta version of Firefox 3.6 has arrived, following hot on the furry little heels of 3.6b1, which was only a week and a half old. Mozilla's touting a whopping 190 bug fixes in that time, many of them user-submitted. If you're using an older version of 3.6, you should definitely update.In my personal experience with 3.6, I've found that most of my themes and several of my add-ons (including the essential Greasemonkey) haven't been updated yet. On the whole, however, it feels very fast (especially at startup) and has proven very stable.
All the major upgrades came in 3.6b1, but if you're using Firefox 3 or 3.5, here's what might entice you to give 3.6 a shot: it offers faster Javascript performance and startup time, built-in support for the Personas one-click theming system, full-screen video and poster frames. If you want to wait for the final version of 3.6, you'll be pleased to hear it's scheduled for December. If the quick turnaround on Beta 2 is any indication, Mozilla is back on track to make that deadline.
Filed under: OS Updates, Security, Macintosh, Apple
OS X 10.6.2 offers tons of fixes, breaks Atom support again
by Jay Hathaway Nov 10th 2009
This Atom Hackintosh story's been flip-flopping like a dolphin at SeaWorld, but here's the final answer: OS X 10.6.2 is out, and it apparently does not run on machines with Atom CPUs. That's the bad news. The good news is that 10.6.2 offers an absolute smorgasbord of tweaks and fixes. Apple's release notes with one of these OS updates usually include some vague message about improved security and stability, and that's it. This time, there's a laundry list of improvements.
The update, which is around 160MB if you're upgrading from 10.6.1, corrects a few nagging issues in the Finder: Exchange contacts not showing up in Spotlight, flaky menu extras, wonky VPN connections and - this one was a personal peeve of mine - not being able to add photos to Address Book. Also, the problem with opening multiple downloaded files at once (a problem Apple never actually acknowledged) is now fixed. Hooray! The whole list is pretty long, and there's also an extensive list of potential exploits addressed by 10.6.2's security update.
How do you download torrentless torrents? Use Magnetiser for Firefox
Want to download torrents without downloading a .torrent file first? You can do it with Magnet links, which are supported in a bunch of major torrent clients, including uTorrent and Vuze (formerly known as Azureus). Instead of using a .torrent file, the magnet protocol uses DHT and the torrent's hash, so you've essentially got a torrentless torrent. Magnet links can be tricky to find, but a new Firefox add-on called Magnetiser lets you pull them from Torrentz or isoHunt. With Magnetiser installed, go to any torrent detail page and click the "magnetise" button in your toolbar. You should be prompted to pick a torrent client that supports magnet links, and then your download will start. As TorrentFreak points out, this is pretty cool when a .torrent file has been removed, but Torrentz or isoHunt still have the hash data. You can add trackers to Magnetise manually, but it comes preloaded with the most commonly-used trackers, so it should work right out of the box.
Magnetise isn't up on the Mozilla add-on index yet, but TorrentFreak has linked to the .xpi file, which you can download and drag to Firefox to install.
[via TorrentFreak]
Phytrix: a Tetris-Meets-Match-3 Time Waster
by Jay Hathaway Nov 10th 2009 {2 comments}
Phytrix is another entry into the venerable genre of falling block games. Pieces in various shapes and colors descend from the ceiling, and your objective is to rapidly organize them so that three or more blocks of the same color are touching, which makes those blocks disappear. Yes, it's two classic games - Tetris and Match 3 - rolled into one.
That's not all, though. Each level of Phytrix has ...Google's next-gen search, aka Caffeine, may arrive soon
Over the summer, we told you how Google had enlisted users to test the next generation of its search technology. The new version of search, called Caffeine, might be ready to roll out very soon, according to some evidence dug up by Mashable. The sandbox link - for testing Caffeine - that we gave you back in August no longer works, because "the sandbox has been retired."
It's been replaced with ...Droid Does... only have 256MB of storage for apps
by Jay Hathaway
Nov 9th 2009 {31 comments}
Motorola's Droid is a sweet piece of hardware that's hyped to give the iPhone a run for its money, especially since it's running the new Android 2.0 OS, and works on the Verizon network in the US. We care about software here at Download Squad though, and there's some dismaying news about the Droid on that front: it has only 256MB for app storage. Seriously.
The Droid reportedly only packs a ...One Finger Discount takes on MacHeist with 20% off tons of Mac apps
by Jay Hathaway Nov 9th 2009 {0 comments}
While software giveaway sites like MacHeist allow indie developers to trade a bunch of free copies of their app for publicity and new customers, some developers aren't on board with that arrangement. Red Sweater Software's Daniel Jalkut believes in getting paid for his hard work, so he decided to offer a 20% discount instead of giving his apps away for free.
It turns out he's not alone. In ...YouScrobble mashes up Last.fm and YouTube
Music fans have been using YouTube as a quick way to listen to songs for ages now, and it looks like developers are finally catching on. I recently told you about TubeRadio.fm, which turns YouTube into a pretty nice little music player. Now there's another YouTube/Last.fm mashup called YouScrobble. It's a similar service, but with a twist: YouScrobble is a music players, but it also allows you to ...
With Halloween fast approaching, it's a great time to get in some practice defending your territory against zombies. In Graveyard Shift, you take aim at zombies and other creepy-crawlies, blasting them into splatters of cartoony green guts. It's a casual first-person shooter, and it's very easy to get the hang of - use the mouse to aim, click to fire. Graveyard Shift has at least 15 levels, and it might even have some secret stages I haven't unlocked yet.
They key to getting good at Graveyard Shift is learning to use ...
