Flash is a bad idea, according to Steve and Apple. To avoid Flash from ruining your desktop experience with 100% CPU usage, you can block Flash from loading into Safari on your Mac OS X using this little ClickToFlash plugin.

Once installed, Flash content will not be loaded. Instead a gradient gray area will occupy the Flash content. Click on the blank area if you want to load the Flash anyway.

You can choose to turn on or off the plugin from its settings page. To access the plugin settings, either click on the icon on the left-top corner of blank gray area or from Safari menu Safari > ClickToFlash > Settings.

The advantages of ClickToFlash are numerous. Since Flash isn’t loaded until you specifically ask for it, your CPU usage will stay at normal levels when browsing the web. This has tons of benefits: web browsing stays speedy, your Mac laptop won’t get as hot, and your Mac’s fan won’t come on as often. In fact, we guarantee* that ClickToFlash will quintuple your battery life and that it will protect those precious parts of your body on which you rest your laptop! (*note: not actually guaranteed)

With ClickToFlash, you can setup the plugin to load YouTube video in H.264 format instead of Flash. H.264 video perform favorably compared to Flash video in Safari.

Apple will launch its iPad on April 3 and you can pre-order it via Apple’s online store on March 12. No doubt many will plunge into their pocket in a bid to show off their latest and coolest gadget, the first iPad is still ‘work in progress’ to us judging from pre-release info and rumors. Here are the 5 ‘missing pieces’:

1. No video camera. Video camera is suspiciously missing for iPad’s form factor and intended audience. There are however reports that ‘there really are slot hidden beneath’ the iPad that is the size of an iSight video camera component. We are hopeful that iPad 2G in 2011 will have iSight video camera.

2. Missing standard apps. From Apple’ press release, iPad will comes with 12 apps Mail, Safari, iPod, App Store, Videos, Maps, Photos, iTunes, YouTube, Contacts, Calendar and Notes. The five missing ones that are standard in iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS are Calculator, Stocks, Clock, Weather and Voice Memos. Many have speculated that these apps did not make the cut and were axed last minute internally at Apple. We expect these apps to appear in later firmware upgrade.

3. iPad WiFi+3G version will not be available worldwide. iPad is available in WiFi or WiFi+3G version. WiFi version will be released worldwide later this year but not the WiFi+3G version.

4. Is there a compass? Digital compass is standard in iPhone 3GS but there is no mention of it in Apple’s press release and there is no Compass app in sight. It looks like digital compass might not in iPad’s roadmap at all.

5. Will there be Push Notification? It is not clear if iPad will support Push Notification, which is widely used by many iPhone apps. Apple’s Push Notification service is never as reliable if your device depends only on WiFi to be online, such as on an iPod touch. It is much better when you are always connected using iPhone and your carrier’s 3G service. We suspect Push will be supported in iPad, and Apple never made a headline out of this feature due to the ‘reliability factor’ on iPad Wifi only version.

You can use Finder, Disk Utility, iTunes, iPhoto, or iDVD to burn files into writable CD or DVD. Apple Support has a summary guide on how to go about burning a CD or DVD. If you want to burn a disc image file (commonly in ISO disc format and with an ISO extension), a separate Apple Support article describes how you can burn a disk image file on a CD or DVD in Mac OS X.

However, if you have DVD Video files in VIDEO_TS folder, there is no quick method using the bundled apps in Mac OS X to burn a DVD-Video disc to be playable in regular DVD players.

Burn is an open source and free app that can help you burn the disc to the correct DVD Video format.

Or if you prefer the command line using Terminal, the steps are:

• Create a new folder to house your VIDEO_TS folder, for example ~/Downloads/XMas2008/VIDEO_TS.

• On a Terminal session, enter the following command:

  hdiutil makehybrid -udf -udf-volume-name MY_DVD_NAME -o MY_DVD.iso /path/to/folder/containing/VIDEO_TS

  Using the above example:

  hdiutil makehybrid -udf -udf-volume-name XMas2008 -o XMas2008.iso ~/Downloads/Xmas2008/

• Make sure that /path/to/folder/containing/VIDEO_TS is the path to the folder containing the VIDEO_TS folder, not the VIDEO_TS folder itself.

• The command will create an ISO disk image file XMas2008.iso.

• Start Disk Utility, drag the newly created XMas2008.iso into Disk Utility and click the Burn button to create the DVD-Video disc.

VMWare has released Fusion 3, a major version upgrade to its popular virtualization software on the Mac. This version is touted to have more than 50 new features. It is available for $79.99 or $39.99 for the upgrade.

Among the new features:

Snow Leopard Optimization

VMWare Fusion 3 has a new 64-bit core engine to take advantage of Snow Leopard’s 64-bit kernel for improved performance and reduced overhead.

Better Windows 7 Support

VMWare Fusion 3 is the first virtualization software to support Windows Aero user interface effect, including Flip 3D and Aero Peek. Support for DirectX 9.0EX with OpenGL 1.4 enable more Windows games to be playable. You can run both 32-bit or 64-bit Windows 7.

Migration Assistant

VMWare Fusion comes with a built-in Migration Assistant to help you to move a physical PC to a virtual machine. Just connect your PC to your Mac using an Ethernet cable, and you can move the whole PC to Fusion 3 in a few simple steps.

More Mac-like Experience Running Windows App

VMWare Fusion comes with a Application Menu where you can access your Windows App via the Mac menu bar, even when Fusion is not running. Find and launch Windows apps using spotlight just like Mac apps. Fusion 3 supports Expose and Dock Expose for Windows apps, and you can quit Windows app using Command-Q just like Mac app.

Visit VMWare Fusion 3 Home Page.

Wi-Fi Alliance has announced the near completion of Wi-Fi Direct, a new specification that allows devices to connect to each other without joining a Wi-Fi network.

“Wi-Fi Direct represents a leap forward for our industry. Wi-Fi users worldwide will benefit from a single-technology solution to transfer content and share applications quickly and easily among devices, even when a Wi-Fi access point isn’t available,” said Wi-Fi Alliance executive director Edgar Figueroa. “The impact is that Wi-Fi will become even more pervasive and useful for consumers and across the enterprise.”

Wi-Fi Alliance expects to begin certify devices with Wi-Fi Direct specification in mid-2010. Compete directly with Bluetooth for peer-to-peer networking, Wi-Fi Direct is expected to be 30 times faster than Bluetooth (with 802.11n) and has a wider coverage of up to 300 feet radius. Wi-Fi Direct can be implemented as a software upgrade for existing Wi-Fi devices. And Wi-Fi Direct device is able to create connection to hundreds of millions of legacy Wi-Fi devices currently in use.

Apple is a sponsor corporation for the Wi-Fi Alliance, so it is likely that Apple will adopt Wi-Fi Direct on Macs, iPhones, iPod and future Apple equipments.

Continue reading »

Canon has released Canon Easy-PhotoPrint for iPhone (Canon iEPP), a free app that allows you to print photos from your iPhone or iPod touch to Canon PIXMA printer via local Wi-Fi network.

Canon iEPP works with Canon PIXMA printers with wireless features such as PIXMA MP560, MP640 and MP990 models. The app will automatically detect compatible printers on your Wi-Fi network. You can select paper size and paper type supported by the printer, and select to print multiple photos from your iPhone or iPod touch. Other print option you can select include borderless printing.

Canon iEPP iTunes Link

A few users have reported in Apple forums incidents of total data loss using Guest account after upgraded to Snow Leopard. Apple has confirmed on Tuesday that the company is “aware of the issue, which only occurs in extremely rare cases, and we are working on a fix.”

According to reports, the bug occurs when you upgrade from Leopard to Snow Leopard with an existing Guest account in Leopard. After the upgrade, all data are gone after users logged into their Guest accounts and then back to their normal accounts.

PC World has unsuccessfully tried to replicate the bug, suggesting it is indeed rare.

It is better be safe than sorry, make sure there is a usable backup before you upgrade to Snow Leopard. And avoid using Guest account in Snow Leopard until Apple fixes the problem.

Snow Leopard comes with subtle changes that refine the Mac OS X experience, minimize application windows to application icon is one of them.

When you minimize a window under Mac OS X, the default behavior is to shrink the window into the thumbnails of the dock, one icon per window. This leads to irritating Doc clutter if you have a number of minimized windows.

Snow Leopard has an additional entry “Minimize windows into application icon” in its System Preferences > Dock settings where you can select to hide minimize windows into application icon instead of thumbnails of the dock.

You can accessed minimized windows as usual from the application’s Window menu or from the icon menu by Control-Click on the app icon on the Dock. Minimized windows also appear below at the bottom in Dock Expose when you click and hold the app icon on the Dock. Similarly minimized windows appear at the bottom when you activate Expose.

Apple has released iPhone OS 3.1.2 update which fixes a number of issues reported by users including not able to wake up from sleep and battery life hit.

Amazon will release a new Kindle version on Oct 19, dubbed “Kindle U.S. & International Wireless”, that is able to wirelessly download content in over 100 countries. Priced at $279, it is the same 6-inch device as the current Kindle other than the new international wireless feature.

The current Kindle is now called “Kindle U.S. Wireless”, with price fell from $299 to $259.

“With this new Kindle, you can get your books, newspapers, and magazines delivered wirelessly while at home or abroad in over 100 countries. Whether you’re in Paris, Mumbai, or Sao Paulo, you can think of a book and be reading it in less than 60 seconds.” - Jeff Bezos

With the new device, international customers can now order Kindle with international wireless. However content and pricing vary for customers living outside of the U.S. Check if Kindle is available in your country.

Pre-order Kindle U.S. & International Wireless