SpyMe 2: Multiple Remote Management

If you need to remotely administer a bunch of Macs, the obvious solution is Apple Remote Desktop. There's just one problem: the pricetag. ARD runs $299 for 10 managed systems or $499 for an unlimited number of managed systems. Of course, if you're the geeky type you can use OS X's built-in VNC with something like Chicken of the VNC, but it can be a little tricky to set up, and generally only allows you to control one computer per window. Enter SpyMe 2 from ReadPixel. SpyMe offers similar functionality to ARD, allowing you monitor the screens a number of remote Macs simultaneously, take control of any one of them, or even lock all of them (so as to prevent the kids from surfing when they're supposed to be listening). Best of all, SpyMe 2 is reasonably priced at $15 (for 3 machines), $35 (for 10), or $95 (for an unlimited number) and a demo is available.

[Via My Own Reality]

Apple posts ADC Developer Pavilion Interviews

One of the coolest places at Macworld this year was the ADC Developer Pavilion. Lots of small developers showing off their wears to the masses is always a good time if you ask me, but I'm crazy for third party developers. Apple has just posted audio interviews with 9 of those very developers, along with a photo gallery of the pavilion.

This is great, to be sure, but at the risk of sounding like an ingrate, these 9 interviews would have been great as a podcast (or a podcast series). That being said, the interviews are well worth a listen.

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Apple and Cisco Settle over iPhone

MacNN is reporting that Apple and Cisco have reached an agreement over the use of the "iPhone" brand. As we previously mentioned, Cisco had sued Apple following the Macworld announcement claiming to hold the US trademark, though Cisco later granted several extensions to allow time to finish negotiations. This has apparently paid off, as MacNN says that under "the agreement, both companies are free to use the 'iPhone' trademark on their products throughout the world." There's more corporate speak about "exploring opportunities," etc., but the main news is that this little spat is cleared up, removing yet another small barrier to Apple's apparent plan for iPhone world domination.

Hang Your Mac - Sonnet MacCuff Pro

It's common knowledge that Mac Pro is one of the most powerful pre-configured desktop computers out there, but who knew it was hung? With a little help from Sonnet Technologies, your Mac Pro or PowerMac G5 can hang elegantly from under your desk instead of taking up valuable floor real estate. The MacCuff Pro is made of solid steel and retails for a pricey $129.

While the idea of hanging a tower is cute, I'd be cautious to try it on anything but the sturdiest desks, and definitely only those made of solid wood instead of particle board.

[via CrunchGear]

Apple TV takes over DVD world, or 30%, at least

I don't give predictions of market analysts too much serious thought, mostly because the statistics don't really mean much other than to hype up a particular product. Or maybe these analysts just like to be able to say 'told ya so' if their predictions become true. Anyway, one Deutsche Bank analyst claims that the Apple TV can potentially capture 20-30% of the CD and DVD market within a few years after its launch this month. Not to be a naysayer or anything, but that is a huge percentage that seems way too optimistic to be taken seriously. There are a ton of factors at play here. (Oh, and let's not forget that only Disney, Paramount, and Lions Gate are on board to sell films through iTunes... and as far as I know, there are a couple more movie studios out there than just these three).

What do you think? Will the Apple TV cause that big of a shakeup in the home entertainment market once it lands? Will it appeal only to fervent Apple fans? What about those people that can barely operate the remote control of their DVD player, never mind tackling the prospect of downloading and transferring digital videos? Any thoughts?

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Desky: drag and drop to change desktop wallpaper

A while ago we found an Automator action that lets you drag and drop images to set them as your desktop background. No fuss, and no clunky System Preferences pane. I didn't notice it at the time, but TUAW reader Tice commented with a link to his little app, named Desky, that can do the same thing without any of the Automator setup work involved (sorry Tice!). Fortunately, Desky is finally getting its time in the TUAW spotlight, as I caught an update in my RSS feeds that adds the ability to set Desky as a button in the Finder toolbar, as well as Universal Binary goodness.

Desky is freeware and available from Tice's site.

An Open Letter From Yellow to Apple

Apple has historically been - and to a certain point sill is - a pretty darn colorful company. True, Jobs and Ive seem to prefer to stick to grayscale for their flagship products (iMac, iPod, MacPro, MacBook/Pro, mini, etc), there is always a dash of color to be found somewhere in the Apple product lineup. All of the colors in the old logo (plus some extras) have graced the outside of at least one Apple device; all, that is, except for Yellow.

As one would expect, Yellow isn't too thrilled that he's been left out of all of the fun, even if there were good reasons for doing so. As a way of expressing his distaste with the way things have been going, Yellow has published an open letter to Apple in which it makes arguments not only for itself being used in upcoming products, but a few of it's chromatic friends as well.

Xtorrent Beta 3: RSS "Torrentcast" Support

We've mentioned the two previous betas of Dave Watanabe's excellent bittorrent client Xtorrent. Now beta 3 is out and adds a long promised feature: RSS support. With beta 3, you can subscribe to a RSS feed from a torrent tracker site, and, according to Dave, "you are presented with a continuously updated list of torrents from that feed." Starting the downloading just requires a click of the download button. Continuing the recent trend, Xtorrent is available now with special "pre-release pricing," for $15.89 (versus $18.99 when released). Xtorrent definitely seems to be the most stylish of the Mac bittorent clients; with the excellent built-in torrent searching features and RSS feed support, it looks to be a certain winner. Perhaps the biggest thing Xtorrent still needs is support for some sort of automated downloading, so that the user wouldn't even have to hit the download button.

Clear out 3rd party .Mac sync items with Syncrospector

.Mac Sync Services leave much to be desired in the management department - Apple provides no UI for removing them once you no longer use an application, and you don't have many options for troubleshooting when things go south.

Until now.

A user named kohlmannj at the indispensable macosxhints figured out how to use an app at the ADC site that can actually remove 3rd party sync items and reset your .Mac syncing to a 'never synced before' status. The hint is actually very simple to implement, but be sure to read the entire post to understand exactly what you're getting yourself into. In summary: this tool and hint will set your .Mac Sync Services back to square 1, meaning that 3rd party items will get removed (though your data in those apps will remain unscathed), and the next time you sync (I recommend performing one manually) you'll be asked all those 'brand new Mac' questions like "you are about to sync your calendars for the first time, do you want to merge, replace, etc."

Soon after you perform this reset, your 3rd party .Mac-aware apps *should* ping Sync Services to get on the list again, and I can personally say this worked for Yojimbo, but not Trasmit - yet. Ultimately, this might be a bit like using a sledgehammer to strike a nail, but it works - which is better than Apple's former solution of 'nothing.'

Beat the Genius Bar lines: Quick Drop your Mac

No, we aren't recommending that you pull a drive-by drop-off at your nearest Apple Store, but The Consumerist has a nice tip for beating those Genius Bar blues. Apparently, an anonymous and "disgruntled" Apple Store support employee sent them a tip on how to get the Geniuses behind the bar to whip out a 'Quick Drop' form, which allows you to simply fill out some paperwork and leave your Mac with the store. This allows you to work around all that pesky time waiting in line and getting diagnosed.

So if you're in a hurry, head over to The Consumerist and read the full letter to get the run-down on how to save what little time you have.

Snipshot Quicksilvering

Snipshot is a cool little online, Ajax-y image editor that lets you do simple editing tasks directly in a web browser. It possesses only limited functionality, e.g. resize, crop, some hue, saturation, etc. adjustment, but it is super handy for quick and dirty editing jobs, particularly when you're not on your home machine. Sam apparently agrees, but thinks that it should be even easier to use than the built-in the web-based uploading interface, so he has whipped up an AppleScript droplet (Snipshot.app) that uploads an image to Snipshot. Sam intends for it to be used with Quicksilver. Select the image file you want to edit in the Finder, invoke QS with Command Selection Window feature activated, and then open it with Snipshot.app as above.

[Via Lifehacker]

Gaming on the Apple TV?

Will the AppleTV be a gaming platform as well as a simple video receiver? Our sister blog Engadget discovered that games company PopCap may have divulged game development plans during an interview with Wired. Ryan Block writes that AppleTV's HD support might hint at specific HD gaming development but he wonders how anyone would get gaming with Apple's minimal remote.

Here at TUAW, we remain skeptical. But if an AppleTV gaming solution would suddenly materialize, we'd respond with happy cries of "Wii!". Or something like that. Pop over to Engadget to read more about the story.